UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


OF" 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
^Accessions  No.£Jt{S'7 ...      Class  No. 


UBRARY 


LECTURES 


ON 


NATURAL  HISTORY. 


CHADBOURNE. 


LECTURES 


NATURAL    HISTORY: 


ITS   KELATIONS 


TO 


INTELLECT,  TASTE,  WEALTH,  AND 
RELIGION. 


BY 

P.  A.  CHADBOURNE, 

PROFESSOR   OF   NATURAL   HISTORY  IN   WILLIAMS   COLLEGE, 

AND 

PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  AND  CHEMISTRY 
IN  BOWDOm  COLLEGE. 


NEW  YORK: 

A.  S.  BARNES  &  BURR,  51  &  53  JOHN-STREET. 
1860. 


arTm"**^ 
falUVBRSITYj 


'  •  I 


BIOLOGY 
LIBRARY 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860, 

BY  A.  S.  BARNKS  A  BURR, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Uniteo  States  for  tbi 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


RENNIE,  SHEA  A  LINDSAY, 

STIKKOTYPKHS  *KD  ELKCTROTYFBB*,  OEO.  W.  WOOD,  PRINTER, 

81,  83  &  85  CENTRE-STREET,  No.  2  Dutch-st.,  N.  Y. 

NEW  YORK. 


PREFACE. 


IT  is  a  characteristic  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, to  test  every  thing,  by  its  money  value 
alone.  The  brief  discussion  of  the  Relations 
of  Natural  History  in  the  following  Lectures, 
was  entered  upon  with  the  hope  of  doing 
something  to  show  that  this  department  of 
study  is  by  no  means  to  be  estimated  by  its 
direct  return  of  dollars  and  cents.  Simply  to 
impart  information,  is  a  small  part  of  the  teach- 
er's work.  This  is  not  to  be  neglected ;  but 
training  the  mind,  so  that  it  shall  move  on,  a 
living,  expanding  power  through  life,  is  edu- 
cation. As  the  living  tree  gathers  with  its 
thousands  of  rootlets  nutriment  from  the  earth 


PREFACE. 


beneath,  while  its  leaves  are  drawing  in  the 
gases  from  every  breeze  that  moves  them,  to 
build  up  the  fabric — so  the  mind  must  be 
trained  to  gather  food  from  every  field  of 
thought,  and  change,  by  its  vital  power,  to  an 
element  of  strength,  the  mental  accumulations 
which  to  many  become  a  burden  to  the  mem- 
ory alone.  Many  students,  enjoying  a  high 
reputation  for  accuracy,  leave  college  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  text-books  indeed,  but,  we 
might  almost  say,  unfitted  for  future  acquisi- 
tions by  those  already  made.  That  studies  in 
an  educational  course  should  be  selected  for 
their  educating  power,  would  seem  to  be 
evident.  But  the  truth  is,  information  is  mis- 
taken for  education.  And  Natural  History  has 
in  general  been  valued  simply  for  the  informa- 
tion it  furnishes,  rather  than  as  an  educating 
power.  It  is  in  this  light  that  it  is  generally 


PREFACE. 


matched  against  the  Dead  Languages.  We 
wish  to  put  it  in  the  place  of  no  other  study, 
certainly  not  in  the  place  of  the  Ancient  Lan- 
guages or  Mathematics,  without  both  of  which 
its  profitable  study  is  almost  hopeless.  We 
simply  wish  to  claim  for  it  a  higher  rank  than 
has  thus  far  been  assigned  to  it,  by  showing  its 
varied  relations  to  man. 

The  study  of  a  single  term,  or  a  brief  course 
of  lectures,  has  generally  been  considered  suf- 
ficient for  the  great  book  of  Nature,  while 
two  or  three  years  are  required  on  ancient 
languages  before  commencing  the  collegiate 
course.  So  that  while  almost  every  graduate 
considers  himself  competent  to  teach  Latin, 
Greek,  or  Mathematics,  probably  not  one  in 
ten  would  offer  himself  as  qualified  to  instruct 
in  Natural  History. 

The  Lectures  are  printed  as  prepared  for 


PREFACE. 


delivery,  either  as  a  course  or  separately,  al- 
though this  makes  repetition  unavoidable. 
Nothing,  perhaps,  would  be  gained  by  at- 
tempting to  avoid  this.  It  is  hoped  that  they 
may  at  least  prove  acceptable  to  those  who 
have  listened  to  them,  and  to  those  who  hon- 
estly ask  the  question,  "  What  is  the  use  of  the 
Naturalist's  work  ?" 

BOWDOIN  COLLEGE,  1860, 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE   I. 
RELATIONS  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  TO  INTELLECT 11 

LECTURE   II. 
RELATIONS  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  TO  TASTE  52 

LECTURE    III. 
RELATIONS  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  TO  WEALTH 91 

LECTURE   IV. 
RELATIONS  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY  TO  RELIGION 126 


THE   RELATIONS 


OF 


NATURAL  HISTORY. 


LECTUKE  I. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  AS  RELATED  TO  INTELLECT. 

ON  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  there  is  the  palace  of 
a  king  who  has  no  successor  among  the  living  mon- 
archs,  and  his  subjects  have  long  since  ceased  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  powers  of  the  world.  For 
more  than  two  thousand  years  earth  and  rubbish 
have  covered  its  ruined  walls,  and  filled  its  winding 
galleries  that  once  echoed  to  the  tread  of  busy  life. 
Its  site  even  became  unknown  to  those  who  pitched 
their  tents  by  its  side,  or  buried  their  dead  in  the 
mound  that  inclosed  its  foundations.  But  this 
burying-place  of  former  grandeur,  and  of  the  pass- 


12  NATURAL    HISTORY 


ing  generations,  has  not  been  left  undisturbed. 
From  their  resting-places  have  been  brought  up  the 
slabs  that  in  a  measure  reveal  the  thought  of  this 
ancient  people.  The  king 'has  engraven  his  name 
on  the  back  of  the  slabs  that  form  a  part  of  his  pal- 
ace, while  upon  their  fronts  his  mighty  acts  are 
chiseled  in  the  cuneiform  characters  of  his  nation. 
Even  the  clay  tile  has  stamped  upon  it  some  name 
or  story.  "Why  is  it  that  those  huge  blocks  of  stone 
are  sawn  asunder,  floated  down  the  Tigris  or  trans- 
ported on  camels'  backs,  and  then  borne  across  the 
ocean  to  take  their  places  in  our  museums  ?  Do  we 
expect,  like  their  makers,  that  these  old  divinities 
will  give  fruits  to  the  field,  and  victory  in  war? 
We  do  not  believe  they  have  power  to  save  or  to 
destroy.  "Why  do  scholars  bend  with  wearied  eye 
and  throbbing  brain  over  these  old  mutilated  in- 
scriptions ?  Do  they  expect  to  find  in  them  lessons 
of  wisdom  which  they  have  never  read  in  other  lan- 
guages? or  to  make,  by  such  labor,  discoveries  in 
art  and  science,  which  shall  lengthen  human  life, 
alleviate  its  ills,  or  add  to  its  comforts  ?  None  of 
these  things  are  expected.  The  old  deities  are  to  us 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  13 


mere  stone  —  brittle  slabs  of  mingled  clay  and  gyp- 
sum ;  their  mystic  cones  meaningless,  their  carving 
uncouth,  their  inscriptions  some  idle  vaunt  of  vain- 
glorious kings,  only  equaled  by  the  senseless  self- 
laudations  of  the  "  Brother  of  the  Sun."  But  in 
every  line  upon  those  old  marbles  there  is  the 
record  of  a  thought  ;  and  whatever  its  value  or 
worthlessness,  we  wish  to  throw  its  light  on  the 
great  background  of  human  history.  It  is  the 
search  for  thought  that  dignifies  the  labor  among 
the  mounds  of  Nineveh,  —  that  redeems  it  from  the 
charge  of  childish  folly,  and  makes  each  new  dis- 
covery a  matter  of  universal  interest.  It  is  not  the 
value  of  the  new  stone,  nor  the  value  of  its  inscrip- 
tion in  bringing  to  light  new  views  in  morals  or 
philosophy,  nor  new  facts  in  science  ;  but  there  is 
there  another  thought,  collected  rays  of  thought  in 
the  figure,  the  position  of  the  marble,  and  in  its  in- 
scription, that  can  together  throw  light  on  the  great 
historic  perspective  where  the  converging  pillars  are 
lost  in  darkness.  It  is  thus,  and  for  this  reason,  that 
we  seek  to  gather  from  the  mounds  of  our  own 
country  the  relics  of  a  lost  people.  We  gather  their 


0? 

[UITI7BRSITY 


14  NATURAL    HISTORY 


rude  implements ;  even  the  broken  pottery  is  a  treas- 
ure :  and  all  this  to  pierce  the  curtain  of  mystery 
that  hangs  over  their  origin  and  history — to  catch  a 
glimpse,  if  possible,  of  some  broken  shaft  in  that 
long  gallery  of  history,  which  fell  so  long  before 
Columbus  lived,  that  not  a  single  arch  has  been 
borne  to  us  on  the  bosom  of  Indian  tradition  to  aid 
us  in  its  reconstruction. 

This  is  natural  to  man.  "Whatever  gives  evidence 
of  thought,  he  wishes  to  investigate.  The  field  of 
thought  is  the  home  of  a  thinking  being,  the  home 
of  man ;  and  whatever  manifests  thought,  without, 
evil  associations,  is  never  by  him  to  be  regarded  as 
useless.  He  never  can  thus  regard  it,  for  the  very 
law  of  his  intellectual  being  forbids  it.  He  may 
not  have  so  far  analyzed  his  intellectual  forces  as  to 
know  why  he  is  impelled  to  this  or  that  investiga- 
tion. He  may  not  be  able  to  give  a  satisfactory 
answer  to  the  one  who  demands  the  use.  But,  he 
knows  there  is  a  use,  as  he  knows  that  food  strength- 
ens his  body,  although  he  may  be  in  happy  igno- 
rance of  such  an  organ  as  a  stomach,  and  have  no 
notion  of  the  peculiar  office  of  carbon  and  nitrogen 


AS    BELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  15 


compounds.  He  can  not  tell  how  the  food  acts,  but 
he  goes  on  eating,  for  his  appetite  demands  it.  In 
satisfying  its  cravings,  the  good  of  the  body  is  cared 
for.  It  was  given  to  guide  men,  before  science 
could  help  them.  It  led  them  in  the  right  direction 
as  surely  before  the  days  of  Hunter  and  Liebig,  as  it 
does  now  with  all  the  light  of  modern  science.  So 
this  intellectual  appetite,  that  has  led  men  to  dig 
among  ruins,  to  wipe  the  dust  from  the  ancient  in- 
scription, to  gather  as  a  pearl  every  monument  of 
human  thought,  to  scan  every  form  of  matter  as  it 
exists  in  nature— the  crystal  and  the  flower — the 
animal,  from  the  largest  to  the  animalcule — those 
now  living  and  those  sleeping  in  their  beds  of  stone 
—this  intellectual  appetite  has  led  men  in  the  right 
direction.  It  has  led  them  to  labor,  though  unable 
to  defend  themselves  from  sneers,  and  unable  to 
frame  arguments  in  favor  of  what  they  knew  must 
be  right. 

It  is  this  fact  in  Natural  History — its  manifesta- 
tions of  thought — that  has  enchained  so  many  bril- 
liant intellects  in  its  pursuit,  from  the  days  of  Aris- 
totle till  the  present  time.  This  was  the  charm  that 


16  NATURAL    HISTORY 


bound  them  to  their  work,  and  cheered  them  in 
their  investigations.  The  power  of  this  element  has 
never  been  more  fully  recognized  than  in  the  late 
work  of  the  great  master  in  Zoology,  who  sums  up 
each  of  his  thirty-three  first  chapters  as  expressions 
of  thoughts  of  the  Creator.  He  does  not,  like  the 
Alchemist,  claim  that  he  has  made  the  gold  which 
he  holds  up  to  our  admiring  view.  He  presents  the 
gleaming  ore,  and  says,  Here  I  found  it,  where  it 
was  poured  in  all  its  purity  by  God  himself. 

"We  have  now  laid  open  broad  veins  by  centu- 
ries of  patient  search ;  but  it  was  the  shining 
particles  of  the  same  true  ore,  the  thought  of  God, 
that  led  on  the  early  searchers,  though  they  found 
it  in  grains  so  small  and  scattered,  while  walking 
upon  the  edge  of  the  placer,  that  the  multitude 
could  see  nothing.  "We  have  drawn  on  to  richer 
fields,  and  Natural  History  has  assumed  such  an 
importance — so  many  are  engaged  in  its  pursuits — 
it  is  coming  to  take  such  a  place  in  our  courses  of 
instruction — that  we  may  well  inquire  its  relations 
to  man  as  an  intellectual,  emotional,  physical,  and 
religious  being ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  relation  of 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  IT 


Natural  History  to  INTELLECT,  TASTE,  WEALTH,  AND 
RELIGION. 

Its  relations  to  wealth  are  most  generally  consid- 
ered by  the  common  people,  and  even  by  those  who 
are  clamorous  that  it  should  take  the  place  of  other 
subjects  in  our  courses  of  study.  Its  study  is  not 
demanded  by  them  because  they  believe  it  better 
fitted  than  Euclid,  or  Horace,  or  Thucydides,  as  a 
discipline  to  the  mind,  but  they  see  that  this  may 
be  a  road  to  wealth  in  a  country  like  ours,  abound- 
ing in  mineral  riches.  That  its  money  value,  on 
short  time,  is  the  ground  of  their  estimation,  is  ap- 
parent from  the  fact  that  they  are  eager  for  so 
much  of  the  study  as  relates  to  mines,  while  it 
seems  as  ridiculous  to  them  as  ever  that  men 
should  dissect  fishes,  catch  bugs  and  butterflies,  or 
worse  still,  write  whole  books  on  turtles'  eggs. 
From  the  selection  they  are  sure  to  make  from  the 
departments  of  Natural  History,  we  have  a  key  by 
which  to  translate  their  common  question,  "  What 
is  the  use  of  it?"  It  is  simply  this,  how  much 
ready-money  will  it  bring?  "Will  it  bring  in  more 
money  than  bank-stock  or  government  five-per- 


18  NAT  URAL    HISTORY 


cents?  "I  wish,"  argues  the  prudent  father,  "to 
give  my  son  one  thousand  dollars ;  it  must  be  safely 
invested,  so  that  it  will  bring  in  sixty  dollars  an- 
nually. Shall  I  put  it  into  the  vault  of  the  sav- 
ings-bank, or  into  my  son's  head  in  the  shape  of 
Natural  History  ?"  It  is  with  him  a  mere  matter 
of  judicious  investment.  The  son's  head  is  balanced 
against  the  stone  vault,  or  a  wooden  box,  as  a  safe 
place  for  depositing  money.  If  the  box  is  surest  to 
bring  semi-annual  dividends,  the  money  goes  there, 
and  the  apartments  in  the  son's  head  are  still  empty. 

The  argument  from  design  is  so  obvious,  and  has 
been  so  well  presented,  that  a  certain  relation  of 
Natural  History  to  religion  is  acknowledged  by 
those  who  have  given  the  least  thought  to  this  great 
revelation.  That  it  has  other  and  more  important 
bearings  than  these  special  arguments  thus  far  pre- 
sented, it  would  not  be  difficult  to  show. 

But  two  important  departments  still  remain — In- 
tellect and  Taste — that  have  not  yet  been  properly 
connected  with  Natural  History,  so  that  it  should 
be  seen  to  have  high  claims  in  reference  to  them 
alone.  On  the  first  of  these,  the  relation  of  Natural 


AS    RELATED     TO    INTELLECT.  19 


History  to  Intellect,  I  propose  to  speak  at  this  time. 
And  we  trust  it  will  appear  that  in  this  view  alone, 
it  fully  justifies  the  enthusiasm  and  the  labor  of  nat- 
uralists in  all  ages,  and  will  justify  their  continued 
labor,  until  every  object  in  nature  is  searched  out, 
and  the  thought  in  it  revealed. 

I  need  not  stop  here  to  prove  that  the  intellect  is 
to  man  more  than  money — that  money  can  be  only 
a  means  of  accomplishing  good,  while  the  cultivated 
intellect  is  not  only  a  means,  but  is  itself  an  end, 
a  positive  good;  because,  by  its  exercise,  man  rises 
constantly  to  greater  capacities  for  enjoyment  by  the 
very  act  of  enjoying.  Its  revenue  is  unalloyed  with 
the  anxieties  that  wealth  necessarily  brings.  By 
the  intellect  men  may  rise  so  high,  that  neither 
wealth  nor  station  can  add  any  thing  to  their  influ- 
ence, and  poverty  can  take  nothing  from  it,  nor 
lessen  the  respect  in  which  they  are  held.  We 
never  think  of  wealth  in  connection  with  Newton, 
Cuvier,  nor  Humboldt.  They  are  in  a  sphere  so 
high,  that  neither  riches  nor  poverty  are.  known  or 
recognized  there.  Official  station  could  not  lend 
them  dignity.  Nothing  but  immorality  could  shake 


20  NATURAL    HISTORY 


the  intellectual  thrones  which  they  occupied.  One 
of  them  studied  the  heavens ;  another  brought  liv- 
ing forms  from  the  dead  bones  of  Montmartre ;  the 
other  has  scanned  the  various  aspects  of  nature  in 
every  clime,  and  still  lives  a  companion  of  kings, 
and  an  honor  to  the  race.*  They  were  not  wholly 
made  what  they  were  by  the  study  of  nature,  but 
the  giant  intellects  which  God  gave  them,  found 
in  the  study  of  nature  adequate  employment  and 
means  of  perpetual  growth.  They  walked  with  na- 
ture, as  the  scholar  walks  with  the  great  master,  list- 
ening as  he  unfolds  his  thoughts,  and  deferentially 
propounding  questions  in  every  case  of  doubt.  It 
was  because  in  nature  there  was  thought  embodied 
— the  constant  unfolding  of  a  plan  drawn  by  infinite 
wisdom,  and  written  out  on  every  star  and  mountain 
— in  all  the  tribes  of  land  and  water — in  the  expand- 
ing flower  and  glittering  grain  of  sand — that  they 
never  tired  of  her  comrnunings,  never  grew  wiser 
than  their  teacher,  but  felt  themselves  to  be  children 
to  the  last. 

*  Deceased  since  this  was  written. 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  21 


The  lives  of  such  men — men  never  to  be  spoken 
of  but  with  admiration — would  be  enough,  one 
might  think,  to  insure  the  study  of  nature  from  neg- 
lect. But  this  general  assent  which  their  commen- 
dation might  imply,  is  still  withheld  from  a  multi- 
tude of  objects  on  which  naturalists  spend  their 
lives.  Newton,  we  may  be  told,  was  an  astronomer, 
and  that  walking  among  the  stars  is  a  very  different 
thing  from  groping  in  mud  and  water  for  the  puny 
objects  of  Natural  History.  It  is  true,  Newton 
seems  to  us,  now,  always  surrounded  with  a  halo  of 
stellar  light ;  but  when  on  earth  he  excited  the  com- 
passion of  his  neighbors  by  his,  to  them,  senseless 
employment  of  blowing  soap-bubbles.  How  that 
act  has  become  dignified  in  the  opinion  of  men  by 
the  results  which  have  flowed  from  it !  It  was  to 
Newton  then,  more  than  it  can  be  to  them  now. 
He  saw  in  the  prismatic  colors  of  the  trembling  bub- 
ble, laws  of  matter  wonderful  in  their  possible 
results — with  all  the  charm  of  novelty,  if  we  can 
apply  this  tame  expression  novelty  to  that  happy 
emotion  which  calls  pleasure  from  every  fiber  of  the 
intellectual  being  when  a  new  relation,  or  law  of 


22  NATURAL     HISTORY 


nature,  flashes  upon  the  mind.  The  time  will  come, 
when  the  humblest  work  of  the  Natural  Historian 
will,  like  the  soap-bubble  of  Newton,  vindicate 
itself.  We  are  sure  this  is  so ;  for  in  every  created 
object — in  the  myriad  forms  thrown  up  by  every 
wave — in  the  beetle  that  fills  with  drowsy  hum  the 
evening  air — in  the  worm  that  crawls — in  the  moss 
and  mildew — there  is  a  thought  of  God.  We  are 
sure,  that  what  it  was  not  beneath  the  dignity  of 
God  to  create,  is  riot  beneath  the  dignity  of  man  to 
study — that  it  can  not  fail  to  vindicate  fully  its  claim 
to  our  attention.  We  simply  wish  to  do  something 
to  hasten  that  time. 

Natural  History  is  the  study  of  the  earth  as  one 
mass,  and  of  every  object  upon  its  surface  and  with- 
in its  crust.  We  ask  you,  then,  to  enter  the  portals 
of  this  great  temple,  and  read  the  thought  of  the 
Builder  in  every  separate  stone,  and  its  joining. 
Nothing  is  superfluous— nothing  is  wanting.  Every 
line,  seemingly  useless  in  the  separate  stones,  serves 
to  show  their  true  place  in  the  arch  or  dome.  And 
not  a  single  tint  could  be  lost  without  marring  the 
grand  picture  which  the  pieces  all  conspire  to  form. 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  23 


They  are  like  the  colored  glass  of  some  grand  old 
cathedral  window — forming  a  picture  unseen  by 
those  who  pass  on  the  outer  side  of  the  temple,  but 
to  those  within,  giving  gorgeous  tints  and  celestial 
groups. 

"We  spend  clays  and  nights  in  our  libraries,  com- 
muning with  the  great  of  the  past  ages — and  we  do 
well.  It  gives  strength  and  beauty  to  the  mind  to 
drink  in  the  thoughts  of  those  who  towered  up  as 
beacon-lights  to  the  world.  We  make  long  journeys 
to  see  the  works  of  the  great  masters ;  but  in  this 
temple  of  nature,  which  opens  her  portals  to  us  in 
every  land,  we  commune  with  Him  who  "by  wis- 
dom hath  founded  the  earth." 

WQ  step  first  into  the  lowest  vestibule  of  this  tem- 
ple— the  mineral  kingdom.  And  here,  as  will  subse- 
quently appear  in  the  higher  departments,  we  may 
examine  each  object  independently,  or  we  may 
direct  our  attention  to  the  grouping  of  the  whole — 
the  relation  of  each  object  to  others,  or  the  relation 
of  the  whole  to  higher  departments.  In  this  exami- 
nation it  will  be  impossible  to  keep  entirely  clear 
of  related  sciences,  as  Chemistry  and  Meteorology. 


UHI7BRSIT7 


24:  NAT  URAL     HISTORY 


All  the  natural  sciences  are  so  joined  that  no  one 
of  them  can  be  properly  considered  without  some 
aid  from  others ;  or,  at  least,  by  so  far  introducing 
them  as  to  show  the  line  of  junction,  as  adjacent  ter- 
ritory is  generally  drawn  in  outline  around  any  por- 
tion of  the  earth  that  we  wish  to  map  with  precision. 
We  have  learned  by  the  aid  of  Chemistry  that 
there  are  sixty-two  kinds  of  matter.  All  of  these 
elements  occurring  in  a  simple  state,  and  the  com- 
pounds of  the  whole  number  existing  as  natural 
products,  belong  to  this  one  lowest  department  of 
Natural  History — Mineralogy.  It  is  the  same  matter 
indeed  as  is  found  in  the  higher  departments,  but 
it  is  combined  and  controlled  by  inferior  forces ; 
chemical  affinity  being  the  highest  force  ever  mani- 
fested in  a  mineral.  We  have  here  hundreds  of 
substances  making  up  the  earth's  crust,  mingled  in 
seeming  confusion,  and  many  of  them  of- protean 
form.  These  are  to  be  sought  out,  and  their  true 
nature  discovered  under  their  various  disguises. 
Were  there  no  plan  nor  law  in  their  structure,  the 
task  would  be  hopeless.  For  where  there  is  no  re- 
lationship, the  study  of  one  object  can  give  no  aid 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  25 


in  understanding  another.  Any  arrangement  not 
founded  upon  like  nature  is  only  an  arbitrary  placing, 
which  is  no  sign  of  progress  in  any  department. 
But  these  have  each  a  definite  plan,  and  each  a 
relationship  to  some  other.  And  upon  them  are 
stamped  the  characters  by  which  their  nature  may 
be  known,  by  those  who  look  with  patient  study. 
There  is  engraven  within  their  very  structure  a 
story,  an  autobiography  that  unrolls  the  more  the 
longer  we  gaze  upon  it.  It  is  perfect,  for  the  writing 
is  a  transcript,  by  their  maker,  of  the  nature  He  has 
given  them ; — not  like  the  daguerreotype,  the  very 
shadow,  but  the  very  thing  itself.  It  is  the  nature 
given  by  God,  manifested  in  all  those  sensible  signs 
by  which  the  thing  is  known. 

A  celebrated  mineralogist  was  once  asked  how  he 
knew  that  a  certain  body  had  fallen  from  the  heav- 
ens, which  he  was  giving  thousands  of  dollars  for,  to 
enrich  his  collections  of  meteorites.  His  answer  was, 
"  I  see  the  finger-marks  of  the  Almighty  stamped 
upon  every  part  of  it."  This  might  seem  a  bold 
expression,  or  as  indicating  some  wonderful  property 

in  those  bodies  that  fall  from  the  heavens.     But  if 

3 


26  NATURAL    HISTORY 


sucli  language  could  be  applied  to  a  meteorite,  it  13 
equally  true  of  every  pebble  beneath  our  feet.  To 
translate  these  marks,  to  read  this  language  of  the 
mineral  kingdom,  we  have  in  kind  the  highest  con- 
ditions for  mental  activity.  Other  departments  may 
give  us  higher  degrees.  "We  have  here  a  multitude 
of  forms  —  each  form  perfectly  defined — sensible 
properties  varied  without  limit — all  combined  form- 
ing labels  for  every  species  in  the  mineral  kingdom, 
as  perfect  as  the  works  of  God  ever  are,  and  yet  only 
to  be  read  by  the  keenest  mental  insight,  and  by 
calling  into  active  exercise  every  sense.  The  nature 
of  this  language  we  have  already  indicated ;  but  we 
will  examine  it  more  in  detail,  because  it  is  that  in 
which  the  whole  book  of  nature  is  written.  And  he 
who  would  in  after-life  read  the  inscriptions  on  her 
grand  old  arches — the  poems  in  her  grottoes — must 
not  despise  the  alphabet  which,  meaningless  by  it- 
self, is  the  only  key  to  unlock  those  well-springs  of 
knowledge  which  the  multitude  never  enjoy  ;  hardly 
knowing  of  their  existence,  though  walking  for  life 
among  them.  And,  like  all  others,  it  is  a 
of  signs. 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  27 


We  can  present  it  only  so  far  as  it  lias  been  trans- 
lated, which  will  be  enough  for  our  present  purpose. 
These  signs  are  the  characteristics  by  which  minerals 
are  known.  They  constitute,  then,  the  language 
which  students  of  this  department  of  nature  have 
been  for  ages  enlarging  and  enriching,  by  discover- 
ing new  minerals,  and  studying  with  more  care  those 
already  known.  I  need  but  mention  these  signs  to 
have  it  seen  that  they  tax  every  sense — draw  out  the 
mind  by  every  avenue — pour  in  knowledge  by  every 
channel,  and  thus  offer  the  conditions  of  rapid,  well- 
balanced  mental  development. 

These  signs  are,  first,  the  crystalline  form. 

And  what  a  brilliant  language  is  here  introducer. 
We  have  been  delighted  with  the  beauty  of  its  char- 
acters, even  while  unable  to  translate  a  single  wor-J. 
and  perhaps  even  ignorant  that  they  were  signs  of  a 
language  old  as  creation,  sure  as  the  divine  oracles, 
and  varied  as  the  changing  figures  of  the  kaleido- 
scope. It  sparkles  from  every  grain  of  sand,  glitters 
from  every  well-filled  cabinet,  and  streams  forth  in 
joyous,  gushing  beams  from  the  "  Mountain  of 
Light."  These  gems,  like  the  stars,  have  in  all  ages 


28  NATURAL    HISTORY 


delighted  men  by  their  brilliancy ;  but  it  is  in  the 
study  of  their  angles — the  planes  of  cleavage — and 
the  position  of  their  axes,  that  the  ablest  minds  have 
found  a  life  employment,  and  seen  the  deepest  beau- 
ties of  the  mineral  kingdom. 

It  is  interesting  to  trace  the  progress  of  mind 
verging  toward  truth — peering  into  the  myriad  of 
crystalline  forms — coining  nearer  and  nearer  to  the 
true  translation — sometimes  reading  a  sentence  cor- 
rectly, without  daring  to  vouch  for  its  truth  or  to 
join  others  to  complete  the  story,  until  Haiiy,  by  the 
fortunate  crushing  of  a  crystal,  found  in  its  broken 
fragments  the  primitive  form,  the  first  intelligible 
word  in  this  hitherto  unknown  language.  Minds 
that  had  been  groping  in  darkness  now  saw  light. 
Then  was  called  in  the  power  of  Mathematics,  that 
ever-ready  instrument  of  progress  in  science.  Whole 
volumes  were  filled  with  geometrical  problems  re- 
lating to  this  department  of  Nature.  But  the  won- 
der is,  that  in  the  varied  forms  into  which  she  molds 
the  outer  surface,  as  if  to  hide  and  protect  from 
mortal  eye  her  secret  charm,  the  primitive  form 
within,  men  should  have  looked  beneath  the  cunning 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  29 


disguise  so  as  to  discover  the  thirteen  fundamental 
forms  from  which  all  others  can  be  derived,  and  of 
which  they  are  modifications.  As  an  example  of 
these  modifications,  we  need  mention  but  a  single 
substance — Calcareous  Spar,  of  which  Count  Brun- 
non  described  seven  hundred  derivative  forms.  As 
an  aid  to  mathematical  research  in  reducing  these 
multifarious  forms,  the  light  was  made  to  flash  the 
angles  by  "Wollaston's  goniometer ;  and  when  the 
forms  were  determined,  the  same  ray  searched  many 
of  these  crystals  through,  and  by  the  delicate  test  of 
its  own  polarity,  acknowledged  the  truth  of  the 
mathematical  deductions.  Here,  then,  on  a  single 
characteristic  of  the  mineral  kingdom,  the  crystal- 
line form,  have  been  drawn  out  the  best  thoughts  of 
a  multitude  of  laborers — among  them  De  Lisle  and 
Haiiy,  Phillips  and  "Wollaston.  There  is  no  road  to 
the  full  richness  of  the  mineral  kingdom  but  the  one 
they  have  opened.  To  follow  that  track,  even  where 
they  have  thrown  light  upon  every  place  of  darkness, 
and  placed  finger-boards  at  every  doubtful  corner, 
is  one  of  the  most  severe  and  accurate  processes  of 

discipline  to  which  the  mind  can  be  subjected.     It 

8* 


30  NATURAL    HISTORY 


is  the  study  of  Geometry  in  material  forms — it  is  the 
discovery  of  truth  amid  a  thousand  sources  of  error. 
The  consciousness  of  being  able  in  such  investiga- 
tions to  walk  on  to  truth  without  failure,  in  spite  of 
all  disturbing  causes,  is  one  of  the  most  essential 
requisites  to  encourage  the  student,  and  prepare  his 
mind  for  original  investigations,  and  the  source  of 
the  highest  pleasure  to  those  possessing  it. 

I  have  dwelt  at  length  on  this  one  sign  of  the 
mineral  language,  because  its  relation  to  intellect 
has  appeared  in  all  the  progress  of  this  science.  It 
has  elicited  more  thought,  its  discovery  is  a  greater 
triumph  of  mind,  and  it  still  taxes  the  higher  intel- 
lectual powers  more  than  all  other  characteristics  of 
the  mineral  kingdom  combined.  Yet  they,  obvious 
as  they  are,  have  their  use — they  are  the  easy  part 
which  is  first  learned ;  but  when  carefully  studied, 
as  by  some  of  the  old  mineralogists,  like  Werner, 
they  are  wonderful  in  the  accuracy  of  their  results. 
The  more  important  are :  Lustre,  with  all  its  various 
play  of  light  and  degree  of  intensify — Color,  with  all 
its  possible  hues — the  Degree  of  Transparency — Re- 
fraction and  Phosphorescence — Electricity  and  Mag- 


AS    RELATED    TO     INTELLECT.  31 


netism — Specific  Gravity  in  all  its  possible  varia- 
tions— Hardness  of  every  degree — the  State  of  Ag- 
gregation— the  Surface,  when  broken,  or  scratched, 
or  reduced  to  powder — the  Taste  and  Odor ;  and  if 
allowed  to  step  beyond  the  pure  Natural  History 
properties,  we  might  add  the  numberless  changes 
produced  by  Chemical  Beagents.  To  enumerate  the 
gradations  of  these  various  characteristics  would 
burden  the  memory  to  little  profit  It  is  seen  at  a 
glance  that  they  tax  every  sense.  Determinations 
depend  upon  shades  of  difference  so  slight,  that  no 
language  can  describe  them ;  but  they  are  read  in 
the  mineral,  by  that  keenness  of  the  senses,  which 
they  always  acquire  when  rightly  exercised.  Thus 
then,  in  the  mineral  kingdom  alone,  we  have  a  Ian- 

Jj 

guage  that  is  never  doubtful  in  its  meaning,  to  the 
experienced,  but  a  language  to  be  learned  and  read 
only  by  the  constant  use  of  every  sense,  and  the 
keenest  activity  of  the  reasoning  powers.  What 
subject,  then,  among  all  the  studies  of  a  liberal 
education,  gives  better  conditions  of  mental  growth 
and  activity  than  this  lowest  department  of  nature  ? 
But  we  must  pass  to  the  Kingdom  of  Life.  We 


32  NATURAL    HISTOKY 


lose  here  our  geometrical  forms,  bounded  by  planes 
and  lines,  but  we  have  the  unfolding  of  a  new  force, 
that  uses  chiefly  four  elements,  and  molds  them  into 
more  forms  than  are  known  to  the  whole  mineral 
kingdom.  The  vital  force  gives  relations  and  devel- 
opments entirely  unlike  those  in  the  lower  depart- 
ment, not  even  suggested  by  any  thing  found  there, 
— as  the  relation  of  parent  and  offspring, — by  which 
matter  is  molded  into  a  continued  series  of  identical 
forms,  by  a  force,  not  in  it,  but  above  it — the  devel- 
opment of  vegetable  and  animal  growth,  in  which 
the  perfection  and  beauty  depends  upon  the  con- 
stant change  of  matter,  while  in  the  crystal  they 
depend  upon  its  permanence.  "We  have  not  here 
stepped  beyond  the  limit  of  mathematical  law,  but 
it  is  obscured  by  more  deviations  than  in  the  most 
complicated  crystal.  What  myriad  forms  start  up 
on  every  side!  There  is  the  plant  of  a  single  cell, 
cradled  in  the  northern  snow,  his  kindred  lurking  in 
every  pool — the  Fungus,  scavenger  among  plants, 
feeding  on  decaying  fiber — the  Lichen  and  Moss, 
picturing  the  broad  rock  with  fairy  groves  and  rings 
— the  Grasses,  wearing  their  carpets  of  green,  and 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  33 


yielding  their  riches  in  almost  every  portion  of  the 
earth — the  Fir,  and  lowly  Birch,  and  Willow, 
braving  the  mountain  storms,  or  creeping  almost  to 
eternal  snows — the  Pine,  whispering  its  sad  moan- 
ings  in  dark  and  gloomy  forests — the  Oak,  spreading 
its  arms  in  strength — the  Orange  and  Citron,  loading 
the  air  with  perfume — the  broad  Palm,  lifting  its 
feathery  leaves  in  quiet  grandeur  to  the  sky — the 
Algae,  binding  the  ocean  with  one  eternal  fringe  of 
rich  and  varied  hues.  Mingled  among  all  these  are 
thousands  of  other  objects,  that  make  up  every 
landscape,  as  rich  in  product,  as  curious  in  struc- 
ture, and  as  varied  in  form.  And  these  all  are 
ministering  to  a  higher  form  of  life — the  animal 
kingdom,  that,  starting  from  the  plant  to  an  opposite 
polarity,  by  a  gradation  so  nice  that  we  can  not 
draw  the  dividing  line,  bursts  into  a  wealth  of  forms 
with  sensitive  life ;  ending  in  man,  endowed  with 
thought  and  reason,  able  to  understand  this  chain  of 
beings,  as  he  is  their  appointed  lord,  and  their  con- 
necting link  with  the  Maker  of  them  all. 

Among   these   we   know   the    Polyp,   that   with 
radiate  masonry  builds  its  walls  and  mounds  strong 


34:  NATURAL    HISTORY 


enough  to  shut  back  the  ocean,  and  broad  enough 
for  nations  to  dwell  upon.  The  waters  teem  with 
Fishes  and"  Shells — the  air  with  Birds  and  Insects — 
the  fields  and  forests  with  their  higher  tribes — the 
rocks  with  the  casts  and  figures  of  those  which  have 
passed  away.  We  have  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  species  of  plants ;  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  in  the  animal  kingdom,  besides 
the  multitude  belonging  to  geologic  time.  A  single 
species  is  sometimes  represented  by  more  than  one 
thousand  distinct  forms,  known  as  varieties.  It  is 
in  this  field,  among  these  countless  hosts  of  the 
kingdom  of  life,  that  the  human  mind  has  made 
some  of  its  greatest  triumphs.  This  is  a  matter  of 
history ;  but  the  vastness  of  the  work  and  the  power 
of  mind  required,  and  the  growth  of  mind  marked 
by  the  progress  of  succeeding  generations,  can  be 
fully  understood  only  by  those  who  linger  in  this 
higher  portion  of  the  temple  of  nature  till  they  see 
the  objects  as  grouped  by  the  great  masters.  It 
may  be  said  they  have  only  discovered  the  plan  and 
the  grouping  which  nature  had  already  made.  The 
question  is  not  altered.  Nature  never  arranges. 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  35 


She  does  indeed  put  her  symbolic  language  on 
every  stone  in  her  temple.  But  though  the  build- 
ing is  perfect  to  the  eye  of  the  great  Architect,  it  is 
a  perfection  of  relation,  and  not  of  position.  It 
seems  chaos  to  man  until  that  relation  is  perceived, 
as  it  existed  in  the  divine  Mind,  and  is  manifested 
in  his  works.  The  blocks  are  scattered  where  they 
were  fashioned  by  the  Creator — on  every  continent, 
the  islands  of  the  sea,  and  beneath  the  waters. 
Their  true  place  is  written  in  their  structure :  it  is 
repeated  in  every  change,  from  the  unfolding  of  the 
germ  to  the  perfect  being.  But  it  is  the  gathering 
up  of  these  scattered  fragments,  so  that  they  shall  be 
perfect  to  man,  as  they  formed  a  perfect  whole  to 
the  Omnipresent  eye  in  the  first  creation — it  is  this 
entering  in  to  the  thought  of  God  by  the  army  of 
naturalists,  that  is  the  great  triumph  of  intellect. 
And  that  this  has  been  done,  in  the  main,  in  the 
present  natural  systems  of  classification,  wre  have  no 
more  doubt  than  we  have  that  the  sun  is  the  center 
of  the  solar  system,  and  that  the  true  order  of  the 
planets  is  now  known.  It  is  this  search,  this  grad- 
ual unfolding  of  the  great  Master's  thought,  that  has 


36  NATURAL    HISTORY 


quickened  the  senses  and  strengthened  the  powers 
of  Aristotle,  Linnaeus,  and  Cuvier,  and  the  long 
list  of  the  dead  and  living  naturalists  almost  equally 
worthy  of  mention.  The  record  of  single  straggles 
and  single  triumphs,  had  we  time  to  recount  them, 
would  prove  to  us  the  intensity  of  thought,  the 
taxing  of  the  senses,  and  the  broad  generalizations 
through  which  each  of  the  great  naturalists  has 
passed, — each  being  in  some  points  successful,  and 
in  others  at  fault,  because  life  was  not  long  enough 
to  read  every  sign  *  correctly,  or  because  he  attempt- 
ed to  form  an  arch  from  the  materials  at  hand, 
while  the  key-stone  perhaps  w^as  fashioned  on  an- 
other continent,  reserved  as  a  discovery  for  some 
more  fortunate  workman.  This  language  of  signs, 
by  which  they  are  compelled  to  carry  on  their  work, 
is  the  same  in  kind  as  already  referred  to  in  the 
mineral  kingdom,  but  with  rhetorical  figures  and  a 
more  hidden  meaning.  No  other  study  has  de- 
manded of  men  such  bodily  toil  and  exposure.  ~No 
worldly  good  but  gold,  has  ever  sent  men  on  such 
long  and  perilous  journeys.  It  so  enchains  the  mind 
that  ease  is  forgotten,  and  money  despised  except  as 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  37 


a  means :  it  is  not  valued  for  a  moment  against 
progress  in  this  pursuit. 

Agassiz  expressed  the  feeling  of  every  true  natu- 
ralist, when  he  said  "he  could  not  spend  his  time 
making  money."  Linnaeus  not  only  roused  his 
mind  and  body  to  the  work,  so  that  weariness  and 
disease  were  almost  forgotten,  but  his  pupils  were 
fired  with  an  enthusiasm  which  sent  them  round  the 
world,  to  gather  for  their  teacher  and  themselves 
new  lines  in  this  book  of  nature. 

There  is  one  department,  embracing  the  whole 
range  of  Natural  History,  whose  most  brilliant 
triumphs  were  reserved  for  our  day,  and  where  the 
human  mind  has  yet  its  grandest  problems  to  solve 
in  the  material  world.  Slowly  from  the  mountain 
and  the  valley  did  light  break  in  upon  the  mind, 
and  the  great  truth  become  established,  that  in  the 
bosom  of  the  earth,  that  volume  of  stony  leaves, 
there  were  strange  inscriptions,  the  record  of  un- 
numbered nations ;  that  her  true  history  was  writ- 
ten there,  and  that  in  this  apparent  chaos  there  was 
perfect  order. 

The  student  of  antiquities  has  no  lexicon  for  read- 


38  NATURAL    HISTORY 


ing  tlie  strange  inscriptions  on  the  bricks  and  slabs 
of  those  ancient  buried  cities.  Their  engravers, 
and  those  who  wrote  and  spoke  the  languages,  are 
gone:  not  a  single  letter  will  ever  be  added  to 
those  already  written ;  from  them  alone,  unchang- 
ing and  unchangeable,  must  a  key  be  found  by 
which  the  world  can  unlock  their  meaning.  Not  so 
of  the  inscriptions  in  the  rocks  of  the  earth.  The 
language  engraven  there,  God  is  repeating  every 

year  in  the  sunshine  and  storm,  and  in  the  varied 

• 

forms  of  animals  and  plants  that  live  and  die.  This 
language  the  students  of  nature  already  knew.  As 
they  opened  the  leaves  of  stone,  the  forms  were 
strange  indeed  and  antiquated,  like  the  characters  in 
the  old  black-letter  volumes  of  our  libraries,  but  the 
language  was  still  the  same, — it  had  been  the  mother 
tongue  of  naturalists  for  generations.  The  intel- 
lectual triumphs  in  this  field  are  too  recent  to  need 
mention  here.  The  ablest  leaders  have  still  their 
armor  on.  But  for  fifty  years  there  has  been  no 
such  field  of  thought  as  Geology — no  study  to  which 
the  universal  mind  has  so  turned — none  that  has 
dispelled  more  prejudice — none  that  has  thrown  up 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  39 


such  a  background  where  the  thought  can  rest,  or 
run  back  through  the  ages — and  there  is  none  that 
gives  more  strength  of  mind  by  its  pursuit. 

We  have  thus  far  referred  to  the  struggles  of 
mind  in  unfolding  the  plan  of  nature ;  but  has  the 
mission  of  Natural  History  been  accomplished  in 
its  influence  upon  the  great  men  who  have  passed 
away,  or  is  its  effect  upon  mind  but  beginning  to 
manifest  its  power?  The  men  already  mentioned 
would  have  been  great  in  any  pursuit.  They  were 
lights,  though  doubtless  having  greater  brilliancy 
from  their  peculiar  study.  Are  their  works  still 
to  quicken  and  strengthen  the  mental  powers  of 
those  who  are  to  come  after  them ;  or  has  the  work 
been  done  once  for  all,  and  is  there  nothing  left  for 
us  but  to  admire  the  deeds  of  those  giants,  without 
drinking  in  strength  from  the  same  fountain  that 
gave  mental  vigor  to  them  ? 

If  we  mistake  not,  Natural  History  is  but  in  the 
morning  twilight  of  its  day  of  influence.  Cast  the 
eye  along  the  shelves  of  any  well-filled  library,  and 
see  the  volumes  that  have  been  written  to  record 
the  labors  thus  far  accomplished.  There  are  Pliny, 


4:0  NATURAL    HISTORY 


and  Linnaeus,  and  Kirby,  and  Audubon,  and  Lyell, 
and  Murcliison,  and  Agassiz,  and  others,  the  titles 
of  whose  books  would  fill  volumes.  In  what  de- 
partment will  you  find  deeper  problems  for  thought, 
or  more  attractive  subjects  for  every  period  of  life? 
"We  might  go  further,  and  say  that  no  class  of  books 
is  more  eagerly  sought  for,  or  more  generally 
studied.  For  the  man  of  general  intelligence,  or 
for  the  scholar,  the  literature  of  Natural  History  is 
unsurpassed.  "What  more  charming  descriptions 
than  in  Audubon  and  Wilson?  What  more  inspir- 
ing than  the  works  of  Miller  ?  What  authors  re- 
quire deeper  thought  and  the  exercise  of  higher 
mental  powers  than  the  writers  on  classification  ? 
What  works  encourage  more  self-reliance  and  bold- 
ness of  views  than  those  of  the  late  geologists  ? 

But  the  important  relation  of  Natural  History  to 
intellect  as  an  educating  power,  is  apparent  from  its 
modes  of  investigation- — from  the  objects  it  presents 
— from  the  powers  it  exercises — from  the  accuracy 
of  its  processes  and  the  grandeur  of  its  results. 

It  calls  men  to  the  field,  and  teaches  them  to  treat 
of  real  things,  and  not  of  mere  names,  "  terms  of 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  41 


ignorance  and  of  superficial  contemplation,"  as  Lord 
Bacon  calls  them.  It  thus  joins  action  of  mind  and 
body  ;  gives  vigor  to  the  former  by  its  pleasant  con- 
trast to  mere  book-studies,  and  by  giving  tone  and 
strength  to  the  latter.  Its  study  is  the  true  method 
of  economizing  time  in  education,  for  when  other 
books  must  be  closed  the  book  of  nature  is  open ; 
and  its  subjects  of  thought  meet  the  eye  in  our 
strolls  of  pleasure,  in  our  hurried  walks,  and  as  we 
rest  by  the  wayside.  The  swiftness  of  the  car  is 
hardly  able  to  confuse  their  clustering  forms  along 
the  way.  Our  knowledge  thus  grows  in  odd  mo- 
ments; and  a  large  portion  of  life  is  saved  from 
waste,  and  made  like  flower-beds  in  nooks  and  bor- 
ders of  gardens,  more  beautiful  because  found  in 
places  so  often  neglected. 

"We  shall  find  no  spot  on  this  earth  where  there  is 
not  some  alcove  of  nature's  library,  with  volumes 
enough  to  employ  us  for  life.  The  investigations  are 
always  original.  The  species  may  be  described  in 
the  book  in  our  hand,  but  the  particular  individual 
which  we  are  to  examine  is  still  to  be  studied  in 

every  characteristic.     The  description  must  be  seen 

4* 


4:2  NATURAL    HISTORY 


to  apply ;  and  tins,  in  the  ever-varying  forms  of  life, 
can  be  done  by  no  mechanical  process ;  it  must  be 
by  an  effort  of  the  mind,  apprehending  at  the  mo- 
ment the  entire  combination  of  properties  and  rela- 
tions. The  first  step  in  wrong  theorizing  is  checked 
by  reference  to  the  real  thing,  as  the  calculated  dis- 
tances and  angles  of  the  engineer  are  tested  by 
measurement  of  the  base-line.  It  thus  differs  from 
pure  metaphysical  investigations,  by  bringing  into 
constant  action  the  perceptive  faculties,  as  a  check 
to  groundless  speculations.  While  Mathematics 
forces  the  mind  along  a  given  course  by  the  iron 
rail  of  necessity,  in  the  relations  of  geometric 
figures  and  algebraic  symbols,  Natural  History 
compels  the  mind  to  direct  itself.  It  must  here  dis- 
cover the  track,  before  it  can  move,  and  keep  itself 
in  place,  not  by  the  iron  flanges  of  the  car-wheel, 
but  by  the  quick  eye  and  accurate  balancing  of  the 
equilibrist.  While,  then,  it  allows  freedom  of  move- 
ment, it  demands  accuracy,  and  corrects  error  by  its 
constant  tests.  It  does  not  consist  in  the  dreams  of 
any  master's  mind,  who  pities  our  want  of  rational 
insight  when  we  can  not  understand  him,' or,  under- 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  43 


standing  him,  fail  to  appreciate  him ;  but  it  deals 
with  things  that  have  an  outward  existence,  objects 
that  can  be  perceived  and  studied  by  all  blessed 
with  five  senses.  They  can  be  collected  in  cabinets, 
so  that  we  may  examine  the  same  plant  which 
Linnaeus  described — the  same  bone  that  Cuvier 
studied. 

Natural  History  demands  high  qualifications  in 
other  departments  of  education,  and  constantly  in- 
creases our  knowledge  of  kindred  studies  in  amount 
and  accuracy,  by  bringing  them  into  daily  use.  In 
the  nomenclature,  there  is  needed  an  intimate  ac- 
quaintance with  the  power  of  words  and  the  laws 
of  their  combinations.  In  considering  the  geologic 
forces,  the  laws  of  form  and  position  of  parts,  we 
gain  a  clear  comprehension  only  by  the  aid  of 
Mathematics.  In  the  higher  problems  of  classifica- 
tion, there  is  a  field  for  metaphysical  speculation, 
applied  to  no  imaginary  creations  nor  abstract  terms, 
but  to  material  forms.  The  delicate  tests  of  Chem- 
istry, and  the  almost  magic  power  of  Optics,  are  in 
constant  requisition.  Men  have  become  naturalists, 
it  is  true,  though  they  neglected  other  studies  ;  but 


4:4:  NATURAL    HI  STORY 


such  of  them  as  became  distinguished  succeeded  in 
spite  of  their  mistake ;  and  in  this  respect  they  are 
no  more  to  be  followed  by  the  student,  than  the  mis- 
takes of  Franklin's  boyhood  are  to  be  copied  be- 
cause he  became  a  statesman  and  philosopher. 

There  is  no  tiring  amid  the  variety  of  the  objects 
which  Natural  History  presents,  and  they  cannot  be 
exhausted.  The  land  and  water  still  abound  in  un- 
studied forms,  and  the  scalpel  and  microscope  reveal 
new  wonders  in  those  that  are  old.  They  are  gen- 
erally beautiful  in  themselves,  always  beautiful  in 
their  relations,  so  that  the  mind  is  constantly  re- 
lieved by  new  points  of  interest,  and  thus  dwells 
upon  them  without  weariness.  They  daily  meet  the 
eye,  and  invite  us  to  review.  Other  studies  may  be 
forgotten  because  the  books  are  closed  and  gathering 
dust  on  the  shelves,  but  the  flowers  and  the  trees 
can  not  thus  be  put  away.  They  press  themselves 
upon  the  attention  every  day,  and  the  insects  and 
the  birds  will  have  a  hearing.  If  the  cold  of  winter 
drive  them  away  for  a  season,  they  make  up  for  the 
loss  when  they  return  in  the  spring,  tilling  every  tree 
and  bush  with  their  melody.  Whoever  heard  of  a 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  45 


naturalist  forgetting  or  losing  liis  interest  in  his 
studies  ?  Those  who  have  contented  themselves  with 
learning  a  catalogue  of  hard  names,  supposing  this 
to  be  Natural  History  because  it  often  passes  for  it, 
must  expect  to  lose  this,  with  most  other  knowledge 
held  by  memory  alone.  Men  may  name  whole 
cabinets,  and  have  no  more  claim  to  be  called  nat- 
uralists, than  a  man  who  has  simply  learned  a  hun- 
dred words  from  a  Greek  Lexicon  to  be  called  a 
linguist.  Such  knowledge  costs  more  than  it  is 
worth  to  keep  it.  The  best  thing  that  can  be  said 
of  it  is,  that  it  seldom  troubles  its  possessor  long. 
But  he  who  has  once  seen  the  true  plan  and  relation- 
ship of  natural  objects  is  a  Naturalist,  though  walk- 
ing among  animals  and  plants  that  have  never  yet 
received  a  name;  and  the  knowledge  of  that  plan 
and  relationship  can  never  be  forgotten,  but  will  be 
increased  by  every  new  object  which  meets  his  eye. 
"When  the  mind  would  mark  the  nice  distinctions 
drawn  by  Nature,  she  must  call  to  her  aid  every 
sense.  She  must  read  the  cells  in  the  bone  and  the 
glimmering  lines  of  the  scale — the  veining  of  the 
leaf  and  the  angle  of  the  crystal.  By  being  thus 


46  NAT  URAL    HISTORY 


drafted  to  constant  labor,  the  senses  are  so  changed 
in  degree  that  they  seem  almost  new  in  kind.  Dis- 
tinctions are  marked,  threads  of  truth  gathered  up, 
which  unpractised  senses  can  not  perceive,  nor  minds 
untrained  to  like  studies  appreciate. 

This  accounts  for  the  common  undervaluing  of 
the  most  important  labors  of  the  Naturalist.  What 
need  of  blinding  one's  self  in  studying  microscopic 
organisms  and  the  mere  impressions  in  the  rocks  ? 
Because  they  are  links  in  the  chain — tints  in  the 
grand  picture.  As  well  might  the  linguist  neglect 
the  breathings  and  accents  of  his  Greek  language, 
the  astronomer  his  fractions  of  a  second,  as  the  nat- 
uralist these  minute  and  seemingly  useless  object. 
As  well  might  men  sneer  at  the  painter  for  giving 
those  fine  touches  that  mark  the  works  of  masters, 
or  at  the  sculptor,  as  his  chisel  brings  out,  by  its 
fine  cutting,  the  desired  expression,  as  at  the  natur 
alist  when  studying  these  minute  shadings  on  the 
great  canvas  of  nature.  It  is  by  these  intershadin;rs 
alone  that  the  parts  are  seen  to  form  an  harmonic  as 
whole,  in  the  contemplation  of  which  the  mind  is 
both  delighted  and  truly  educated. 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  47 


In  educating  the  mind,  accuracy  is  one  of  the 
most  desirable  traits  to  be  developed.  Yolumes 
have  been  written  that  are  worthless  for  lack  of  this 
element.  We  feel  no  safety  in  consulting  them. 
Fine  intellectual  powers  have  yielded  no  valuable 
results  in  the  labors  of  a  lifetime,  because  not  di- 
rected by  habits  of  accuracy  in  every  undertaking. 
A  mind  that  rests  on  suppositions  is  never  to  be 
trusted  by  others,  and  can  never  satisfy  its  possessor, 
if  he  have  keenness  enough  to  understand  his  own 
defect.  We  all  feel  the  power  of  this  in  every  pur- 
suit. We  wish  to  trust  life  and  fortune  with  the 
accurate  men.  And  if  we  would  give  to  those  whom 
we  educate  the  highest  mental  culture,  they  must  be 
taught  to  scan  every  relation,  and  mark  the  minutest 
bearing  of  every  subject  brought  under  their  con- 
sideration. This  may  be  a  natural  gift  to  a  favored 
few,  but  to  the  majority  of  men  it  comes  only  by 
careful  training.  In  every  branch  of  study  chosen 
for  its  educating  power,  this  characteristic  of  securing 
accuracy  in  every  mental  process  is  considered  of  the 
highest  importance.  And  from  the  whole  range  of 
studies  in  the  most  liberal  course,  we  challenge  the 


48  NATURALHISTORY 


selection  of  one  that  demands  accuracy,  and  secures 
it  more  fully,  than  Natural  History,  as  now  studied. 
Look  at  the  Botanist,  as  he  marks  every  hair,  and 
line,  and  cell,  when  with  microscopic  power  he  looks 
into  the  secret  laboratory  of  life,  and  traces  the  join- 
ing of  the  tissues  and  the  structure  of  the  minutest 
organ.  And  in  this  respect  the  Zoologist  is  wholly 
his  equal.  He  studies  thousands  of  microscopic 
forms — the  wavy  line  of  the  scale,  and  the  cell  of  the 
bone — the  cells,  and  lines,  and  tissues  of  the  egg, 
from  the  first  crimson  tinge  of  life,  till  every  change 
has  been  completed.  The  power  and  accuracy  which 
this  gives  are  seen  in  the  restored  forms  of  vegetable 
and  animal  life  from  the  scattered  fragments  in  the 
rocks.  This  power  and  this  habit,  as  a  part  of  edu- 
cation, appear  in  every  vocation  of  life. 

Another  requirement  of  a  study  is,  that  it  shall 
give  broad  views,  and  make  men  liberal  towards 
other  pursuits.  Accuracy  is  dearly  bought  if  it  nar- 
rows the  mind,  so  that  it  can  see  no  good  in  any 
thing  beyond  its  own  particular  province.  Natural 
History  calls  into  daily  requisition  almost  all  other 
departments  of  human  knowledge.  It  does  this  in 


AS    RELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  4:9 


so  marked  a  degree,  that  their  true  place  can  never 
be  lost  sight  of,  nor  their  value  underrated. 

In  the  grandeur  of  its  results,  Geology  is,  accord- 
ing to  Sir  John  Herschel  himself,  second  only  to 
his  own  favorite  study,  Astronomy.  Humboldt, 
whose  range  of  knowledge  is  certainly  equal  to  that 
of  any  man  who  ever  lived,  and  knows  well  what 
studies  are  requisite  to  breadth  and  completeness  of 
view,  has  placed  the  study  of  an  humbler  branch  of 
Natural  History  on  equality  with  the  sublime 
study  of  the  heavens,  for  securing  accuracy  and  in- 
tellectual power. 

"  The  Astronomer,"  says  he,  "  who  by  the  aid  of 
the  heliometer,  or  a  double-refracting  prism,  deter- 
mines the  diameter  of  planetary  bodies,  who  meas- 
ures patiently,  year  after  year,  the  meridian  altitude 
and  the  relative  distances  of  stars,  or  who  seeks  a 
telescopic  comet  in  a  group  of  nebulae,  does  not  feel 
his  imagination  more  excited — and  this  is  the  very 
guarantee  of  the  precision  of  his  labors — than  the 
botanist  who  counts  the  divisions  of  the  calyx,  or 
the  number  of  stamens  in  a  flower,  or  examines  the 
connected  or  the  separate  teeth  of  the  peristoma 


50  NATURAL    HISTORY 


'surrounding  the  capsule  of  a  moss.  Yet  the  multi- 
plied angular  measurements  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  detail  of  organic  relations  on  the  other,  alike  aid 
in  preparing  the  way  for  the  attainment  of  higher 
views  of  the  laws  of  the  universe." 

It  is  with  such  views  of  the  benefits  of  Natural 
History  that  we  would  have  its  study  entered  upon 
by  the  young.  It  may  not  bring  money  to  them, 
but  it  will  open  new  sources  of  pleasure.  Nature 
will  become  an  exhaustless  volume,  read  with  de- 
light ;  and  not  simply  a  series  of  pictures  which  they 
can  admire  indeed,  but  only  as  children  do  their 
primers,  without  a  thought  of  the  story,  or  at  least 
without  the  ability  to  read  it.  Thousands  have  ad- 
mired the  beauties  of  the  moss  covering  the  earth 
with  an  elastic  carpet  of  green ;  but  how  is  that 
beauty  heightened  to  a  Humboldt,  when  he  sees  in 
the  microscopic  points  in  its  nodding  capsule  a 
new  note  in  the  harmony  of  the  universe  ! 

If  we  look  then  at  the  long  catalogue  of  honored 
names,  whose  whole  lives  have  been  given  to  the 
study  of  Natural  History — if  we  look  at  the  vol- 
umes and  cabinets  which  now  record  their  labors 


AS    BELATED    TO    INTELLECT.  51 


—if  we  look  at  the  power  of  this  study  to  develop 
the  perceptive  faculties — if  we  look  at  the  accuracy 
of  its  processes,  and  the  grandeur  of  its  results — and 
above  all,  if  we  look  at  these  varied  forms,  as  the 
material  expression  of  the  thought  of  God — it  comes 
to  us  with  a  force  that  needs  no  special  plea  to  sus- 
tain it,  that  Natural  History  is  deserving  all  the 
labor  men  have  ever  bestowed  upon  it,  as  a  means 
of  training  the  intellectual  powers,  and  as  one  of  the 
most  delightful  fields  for  their  exercise. 


NATURAL     HISTORY 


LECTUEE    II. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  AS  RELATED  TO  TASTE. 

ALL  created  things  are  a  series  of  dependencies. 
They  are  more  than  a  simple  series ;  for,  if  studied 
in  groups,  like  the  stones  of  an  arch,  each  group  is 
found  to  have  not  only  its  own  conditions  of  exist- 
ence, but  to  be  conditional  for  another.  This  is  cer- 
tainly true  of  all  material  forms  of  organic  or  inor- 
ganic combinations.  So  far-reaching  is  this  idea  of 
relative  dependence,  that  we  can  not  by  reasoning 
reach  an  absolute  in  time,  space,  matter,  or  force. 
Go  far  as  we  may  in  either  direction,  the  mind  still 
seeks  for  a  more  remote  cause,  a  still  lower  condi- 
tion. But  by  allowing  the  mind  to  rest  on  a  single 
view  and  to  consider  a  single  condition,  this  view  or 
condition  becomes  magnified ;  and  though  it  can 
never  become  to  us  the  absolute,  it  may  assume  an 
undue  importance,  and  seem  to  us  to  be  the  very 
atlas  upon  which  the  world  rests.  All  members  of 
the  series  are  stones  in  a  perfect  arch.  The  stone 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  53 


we  delight  in,  we  see  to  be  necessary  to  the  very 
existence  of  the  structure,  and  we  forget  that  this  is 
true  of  every  other  in  the  sweep  of  the  all-embracing 
curve.  This  tendency  to  consider  every  object  of 
our  interest  or  study  as  a  condition  for  other  good, 
rather  than  as  itself  equally  depending  upon  others, 
is  seen  in  every  pursuit ;  and  probably  no  man  is  so 
liberal  in  his  education  as  to  be  entirely  free  from 
this  tendency.  The  study  of  nature  is  thus  judged 
of  and  directed  according  to  the  stand-point  of  the 
observer.  Each  one  has  his  own  measure  of  utility, 
and  nature  is  to  him  valuable  as  she  seems  to  expand 
when  he  applies  this  test.  The  mere  man  of  busi- 
ness sees  in  money  the  hope  of  the  world — the  main- 
spring of  progress,  and  the  price  of  every  thing  de- 
sirable. "What  are  the  laws  of  Mechanics  to  him, 
but  that  his  warehouses  may  be  strong  and  his 
machinery  fitted  for  its  work?  What  use  of  Astron- 
omy, but  for  the  guiding  of  ships,  to  shorten  the 
passage  and  reduce  the  insurance?  What  good  in 
Natural  History,  but  that  the  earth  may  be  made  to 
yield  more  abundant  products  from  her  soil,  unlock 
her  mines  of  coal,  and  become  a  grand  specie-paying 


54:  NAT  URAL     HISTORY 


bank,  always  discounting  freely,  but  never  demand- 
ing pay  ?  The  mere  student  inquires  its  relation  to 
the  Intellect,  and  his  scale  of  worth  measures  its 
power  of  exercising  and  developing  the  faculties  of 
the  mind.  The  artist  rises  higher  still,  and,  above 
all  notions  of  wealth,  above  the  pure  conceptions  of 
intellect,  he  ranks  the  emotional  nature — the  love 
and  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  for  its  own  sake. 
Nature  to  him  has  value  as  the  Cosmos,  revealing  a 
mind,  and  speaking  to  the  mind,  in  its  varied  lan- 
guage of  order,  proportion,  and  grandeur ;  thus 
awakening  the  emotions  of  beauty  and  sublimity. 
These  may,  indeed,  arise  from  very  general  views, 
hardly  to  be  ranked  as  the  study  of  Natural  History ; 
it  is,  however,  the  study  of  each  particular  part  that 
brings  out  the  keener  enjoyment  of  the  soul,  as  the 
fine  tones  in  music  add  deliciousness  and  richness  to 
the  harmony.  But,  rising  higher  still  than  all  per- 
ceptions of  material  beauty,  all  enjoyment  from  the 
possible  combinations  of  matter,  is  the  spiritual 
nature  and  sense  of  moral  beauty.  To  this  all  other 
sources  of  happiness  must  be  inferior,  if  not  condi- 
tional, for  it  is  in  this  direction  that  man  approaches 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  55 


nearest  the  Maker  of  all,  in  whose  likeness  he  was 
formed.  To  those  considering  alone  this  higher 
spiritual  and  moral  nature  of  man,  the  material 
world  becomes  simply  a  divine  revelation.  This  is 
to  them  not  only  its  highest  worth,  but,  in  contrast, 
all  other  purposes  are  underrated,  if  not  despised. 
It  may  be  well  for  the  world  that  men  should,  thus 
view  truth  from  different  stand-points,  and  become 
so  enamored  with  a  single  side  as  to  gaze  at  it  for 
life.  But  it  is  never  well  for  the  individual.  A 
thousand  minds,  fixed  on  a  thousand  different  points 
of  the  same  object,  must  in  the  aggregate  learn  more 
than  one  possibly  could  by  passing  from  point  to 
point.  A  thousand  men,  content  thus  to  rivet  their 
attention  till  the  smallest  object  filled  their  entire 
vision,  would  make  greater  progress  for  the  world, 
but  it  would  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  individual  ad- 
vancement. The  broader  the  views,  the  more  cor- 
rect. And  that  mind  is  alone  well  balanced  that 
can  glance  through  the  whole  range  of  relations, 

o  o  o 

and  give  to  every  faculty  of  mind  and  department 
of  nature  its  true  position.  For  the  arch  is  beautiful 
and  perfect  only  when  the  key-stone  rests  in  its 


56  NATURAL    HIS  TORY 


highest  point.  In  the  study  of  Natural  History,  its 
entire  relation  to  man  is  to  be  considered.  The 
Intellect,  as  we  have  already  shown,  finds  here  a 
soil  adapted  to  its  growth.  Like  a  sturdy  tree,  it 
may  here  strike  its  roots  deep,  and  send  up  the 
heavy  trunk,  and  broad  branches,  and  load  them 
with  golden  fruits.  Here,  too,  Taste  may  flourish 
under  the  same  favoring  influence,  as  pure  intellec- 
tual culture ;  like  the  vine  or  prairie-rose  upon  the 
oak,  twining  in  graceful  folds,  and  spreading  over 
the  broad,  firm  branches  of  intellectual  growth  an 
eternal  adorning  of  indescribable  beauty. 

It  is  on  the  relation  of  Natural  History  to  Taste 
that  I  wish  to  speak  at  this  time. 

There  is  in  man  a  love  of  the  beautiful.  And  by 
the  beautiful  we  mean  that  which  delights  by  sim- 
ple contemplation — that  which  we  admire  without 
the  thought  of  utility,  and  without  the  ability, 
perhaps,  to  explain  the  cause  of  our  admiration. 
The  emotions  excited  by  beauty  and  grandeur  may 
be  pronounced  simple  or  complex,  in  our  analysis  of 
the  emotional  nature,  but  "  they  are,"  says  Allison, 
"distinguishable  from  every  other  pleasure  of  our 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  57 


nature."  "The  qualities  that  produce  these  emo- 
tions are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  class  of  human 
knowledge,  and  the  emotions  themselves  afford  one 
of  the  most  extensive  sources  of  human  delight. 
They  occur  to  us  amid  every  variety  of  external 
scenery,  and  among  many  diversities  of  disposition 
and  affection  in  the  mind  of  man. 

"  The  most  pleasing  arts  of  human  invention  are 
altogether  directed  to  their  pursuit.  And  even  the 
necessary  arts  are  exalted  into  dignity  by  the  genius 
that  can  unite  beauty  with  use.  From  the  earliest 
period  of  society  to  its  last  stage  of  improvement, 
they  afford  an  innocent  and  elegant  amusement  to 
private  life,  at  the  same  time  that  they  increase  the 
splendor  of  national  character ;  and  in  the  progress 
of  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  while  they  attract 
attention  from  the  pleasures  they  bestow,  they  serve 
to  exalt  the  human  mind  from  the  corporeal  to  in- 
tellectual pursuits." 

The  faculty  or  constitution  of  our  minds  by  which 
we  perceive  these  qualities,  and  enjoy  these  emo- 
tions of  beauty  and  sublimity,  is  Taste.  It  is  itself 
a  plant  of  beauty  in  the  garden  of  mind,  but 


58  NATURAL    HISTORY 


crushed  and  despised  in  the  hurry  of  this  utilitarian 
age.  It  has  too  often  been  neglected  by  the  scholar, 
and  mourned  over  as  a  vile  weed  of  depravity  by 
the  Christian. 

The  pleasures  of  this  faculty  are  to  the  individual 
ever  fresh  and  delicious.  But  while  every  emotion 
of  beauty  thrills  the  soul  with  delight,  it  rolls  in 
hurrying  ripples,  and  leaves  only  for  its  possessor 
conscious  evidence  of  its  value  and  elevating  power. 
There  is,  therefore,  in  respect  to  this  faculty,  an 
individual  growth  and  revenue  of  pleasure,  which 
no  one  can  calculate  for  another.  "We  can  take  no 
inventory  of  these  higher  riches,  though  in  respect 
to  them,  men  undoubtedly  differ  more  than  they  do 
in  material  wealth.  But  there  is  for  the  race  an 
outward  expression  of  the  power  of  Taste,  and  a 
permanent  record  of  its  progress,  in  the  Fine  Arts. 
If  they  are  not  the  creations  of  Taste,  they  are,  some 
of  them  at  least,  the  creations  of  Genius  to  supply 
her  demand ;  and  the  highest  aim  of  Genius  is  but 
to  receive  her  approbation.  To  the  bidding  of  this 
goddess  he  yields  the  tribute  of  all  his  powers,  and 
plumes  his  wings  for  his  highest  flights  with  the  de- 


AS    BELATED    TO    TASTE.  59 


votion  of  a  knight  in  the  days  of  chivalry.  By  her 
demands,  some  arts  are  made  to  minister  more  to 
her  gratification  than  to  bodily  wants,  and  these  we 
raise  from  the  rank  of  the  simply  useful  to  the  fine. 
The  intellect  simply  demands  of  language  that  it 
express  the  thought  with  clearness  and  precision, — 
but  at  the  bidding  of  Taste,  Genius  weaves  it  into  the 
gorgeous  web  of  poetry,  gleaming  with  threads  of 
gold,  and  covered  with  the  most  brilliant  hues  that 
fancy  can  paint — the  most  pleasing  forms  that 
imagination  can  combine.  And  even  the  language 
of  common  thought  it  has  adorned  with  gems  and 
flowers.  Her  mandate  has  changed  music  from 
the  harsh  and  grating  sounds  of  savage  instruments 
to  the  richness  of  cathedral  organs,  and  the  magic 
bow  of  Ole  Bull.  Painting  and  Sculpture,  for  her 
delight,  have  enlisted  the  pencil  of  Eaphael,  and  the 
chisel  of  Michael  Angelo.  For  her,  Architecture 
raises  the  fluted  column,  places  the  molding,  and 
spans  the  arch.  The  landscape,  for  the  thorn  brings 
up  the  fir-tree,  and  for  the  brier  the  myrtle-tree, 
and  becomes  a  place  of  enchanting  views  under  the 
genius  of  a  Downing. 


60  NATUKALHISTOKY 


These  arts,  in  their  lowest  forms,  alone  minister 
directly  to  the  physical  wants  of  man.  It  is  in 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  this  higher  power  of 
mind,  to  which  their  beauty  is  addressed,  that 
Genius  has  brought  them  to  their  present  degree  of 
perfection.  Whatever  they  have  of  beauty  or 
sublimity,  has  been  given  to  them  to  meet  the 
demands  of  Taste.  To  them  we  may  look  to  see 
what  drafts  have  been  made  from  Natural  History. 
While  Genius  has  explored  the  field  of  thought,  his 
work  was  not  done  till  he  added  to  these  immaterial 
beauties  the  crystal  and  flower  and  forms  of  sensi- 
tive life — beautiful  in  themselves,  and  symbolic  of 
those  higher  beauties  beyond  the  reach  of  the 
senses.  By  marking  the  road  along  which  Taste 
has  led  her  votaries,  we  may  learn  where  her 
onward  path  must  lie,  and  how  far  Natural  History 
can  furnish  material  for  building  or  adorning  the 
beautiful  structures  which  she  demands. 

The  adorning  of  thought,  by  language  not  needed 
for  its  mere  expression — that  portion  created  at  the 
demand  of  Taste — is  one  of  the  highest  works  of 
genius,  and  for  this  alone  natural  objects  would  be 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  61 


worthy  of  more  study  than  they  receive.  Not  only 
do  they  themselves  awaken  every  emotion  related 
to  Taste,  but  it  is  by  them  alone  that  we  express 
the  higher  moral  beauties  and  relations  of  thought 
which  it  is  in  our  power  to  conceive.  Even  God 
himself  gives  the  precepts  of  his  revealed  will,  and 
sets  forth  the  glories  of  his  Church,  by  the  use  of 
these  very  objects;  and,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  there 
was  no  other  way  in  which  it  could  so  wTell  be  done, 
if  at  all.  Glance  for  a  moment  at  your  favorite 
authors, — the  poet,  whose  sweet  song  charms  and 
gives  enjoyment  by  its  very  refining  power;  the 
orator,  whose  words  enchained  every  listener  with 
their  beauty, — and  see  how  much  they  are  indebted 
to  symbols  drawn  from  nature.  Their  words  may 
be  joined  by  the  rules  of  grammar  and  logic — they 
may  convince  the  Intellect  by  the  force  of  the 
reasoning,  they  may  arouse  the  will  by  the  plea  of 
interest — but  when  they  would  charm  with  beauty, 
they  must  reach  forth  for  the  gems  and  flowers  of 
Nature. 

There  is  indeed  much  borrowed  from  Nature  to 
beautify  language,  that  is  not  strictly  Natural  His- 


62  NATURAL    HISTORY 


tory.  The  stars  glitter  in  literature  almost  as  they 
do  in  the  heavens.  The  bands  of  Orion  and  the 
sweet  influence  of  the  Pleiades,  and  all  the  famous 
constellations,  have  beautified  almost  every  lan- 
guage. To  these  the  Naturalist  can  lay  no  claim. 
And  it  may  be  said  that  the  writers  who  borrow 
their  illustrations  most  largely  and  successfully 
from  the  objects  of  Nature,  are  not  Natural  Histo- 
rians. They  may  not  study  books  to  learn  those 
natural  objects  they  have  never  seen— they  may  be 
ignorant  of  the  terms  of  Linnaeus,  and  the  divisions 
of  Jussieu.  They  may  not  be  able  to  give  a  single 
scientific  name,  and  yet  every  writer  that  pleases  us 
most,  looks  with  the  eye  of  science,  and  describes 
with  the  accuracy  of  a  Naturalist.  Their  vivid  and 
minute  descriptions  show  the  skill  and  strength  of 
the  observing  power.  The  effect  of  this  is  seen 
even  in  the  savage,  before  brutalized  by  the  white 
man's  vices.  He  puts  to  blush  the  best-trained  ob- 
server of  the  schools,  and  marks  with  the  naked  eye 
nice  distinctions,  which  even  the  microscope  can 
hardly  reveal  to  some  of  us.  These  forms  of  Nature 
give  him  not  only  the  graceful  model  of  his  canoe, 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  63 


and  the  delicate  tracery  of  bead-work  without  a  pat- 
tern, but  also  the  symbols  of  his  expressive  lan- 
guage. His  words  are  of  leaves  for  number,  the 
rose  and  violet  for  beauty,  the  eagle  for  swiftness, 
the  fawn  for  gentleness,  and  the  snake  for  stealth. 
There  is  beauty  in  his  language,  and  it  is  borrowed 
from  natural  objects,  and  every  thing  written  re- 
specting him  draws  necessarily  its  beauty  from  the 
same  source. 

When  the  poet  would  sing  of  the  Indian's  legends 
and  traditions,  he  repeats  them  "  as  he  heard  them 
from  the  lips  of  Nawadaha,  as  he  found  them 

"  In  the  birdVnest  of  the  forest, 
In  the  lodges  of  the  beaver, 
In  the  hoof-prints  of  the  bison, 
In  the  eyry  of  the  eagle." 

The  Indian's  allegory  of  "Winter  and  Spring  beau- 
tifully illustrates  their  use  of  the  bright  images  of 
Nature. 

"  When  I  shake  my  hoary  tresses, 
Said  the  old  man,  darkly  frowning, 
All  the  land  with  snow  is  cover'd, 
All  the  leaves  from  all  the  branches 


64  NATURAL    HISTORY 


Fall  and  fade  and  die  and  wither ; 
For  I  breathe,  and  lo,  they  are  not ! 
From  the  waters  and  the  marshes 
Rise  the  wild-goose  and  the  heron — 
Fly  away  to  distant  regions." 

****** 

"  When  I  shake  my  flowing  ringlets, 
Said  the  young  man,  softly  laughing, 
Showers  of  rain  fall  warm  and  welcome, 
Plants  lift  up  their  heads  rejoicing ; 
Back  unto  their  lakes  and  marshes 
Come  the  wild-goose  and  the  heron, 
Homeward  shoots  the  arrowy  swallow, 
Sing  the  blue-bird  and  the  robin. 
And  wher'er  my  footsteps  wander, 
All  the  meadows  wave  with  blossoms, 
All  the  woodlands  ring  with  music, 
All  the  trees  are  dark  with  foliage. 

"  Then  the  old  man's  tongue  was  speechless, 
And  the  air  grew  warm  and  pleasant, 
And  upon  the  wigwam  sweetly 
Sang  the  blue-bird  and  the  robin  ; 
And  the  streams  began  to  murmur, 
And  a  scent  of  growing  grasses 
Through  the  lodge  was  gently  wafted ; 
And  Segwun,  the  youthful  stranger, 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  65 


More  distinctly  in  the  daylight 

Saw  the  icy  face  before  him — 

It  was  Peboan,  the  Winter. 

From  his  eyes  the  tears  were  flowing, 

As  from  melting  lakes  the  streamlets, 

And  his  body  shrunk  and  dwindled 

As  the  shouting  sun  ascended, 

Till  into  the  air  it  faded, 

Till  into  the  ground  it  vanish'd, 

And  the  young  man  saw  before  him, 

On  the  hearthstone  of  the  wigwam, 

Where  the  fire  had  smoked  and  smolder'd, 

Saw  the  earliest  flower  of  Spring-time, 

Saw  the  beauty  of  the  Spring-time, 

Saw  the  Miskodeed  in  blossom." 


Along  the  whole  stream  of  ancient  song,  the  ob- 
jects of  Natural  History  are  set  in  thick  and  sweet 
profusion — not  gathered  into  clusters,  but  adorning 
the  richness  of  the  poetic  imagery  as  flowers  deck 
the  meadows ;  and  the  soft  numbers  seem  to  flow 
like  pearly  streams  reflecting  the  nodding  verdure  on 
their  grassy  banks.  How  beautifully  are  they 
braided  into  song,  as  a  chaplet  for  the  tomb  of 

the  Grecian  poet! 

6* 


66  NATURAL    HISTORY 


"  Ye  evergreens,  around  the  tomb 
Of  Sophocles,  your  osiers  braid, 
And,  ivy,  spread  thy  pensive  gloom, 
To  form  above  the  bard  a  shade. 

"  And  intertwine  the  blushing  rose, 
And  gentle  vine  your  leaves  among, 
Thus,  gemm'd  with  beauties,  shall  your  boughs 
Prove  emblems  of  his  graceful  song." 

In  the  Pastorals  of  Theocritus,  and  the  morning 
song  of  Moschus,  the  flowers  bloom  and  the  trees 
whisper.  "What  lent  the  charm  to  much  of  Yirgil's 
poetry — the  Bucolics  and  the  Georgics  ?  His 
sweetest  strains  are  mingled  with  the  hum  of  bees, 
and  the  song  of  birds. 

"  Behold  !  yon  bordering  fence  of  sallow  trees 
Is  fraught  with  flowers,  the  flowers  are  fraught  with  bees. 
The  busy  bees,  with  a  soft  murmuring  strain, 
Invite  to  gentle  sleep  the  laboring  swain  ; 
While  from  the  leafy  elm  the  turtle-dove 
Tells  in  soft  notes  the  story  of  its  love." 

Thus  through  that  wonderful  poem,  written  at  the 
command  of  his  sovereign,  has  lie  presented  a  pic- 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  67 


ture  of  nature,  such  as  the  Naturalist  delights  to 
contemplate.  Not  indeed  accurate  in  all  respects — 
we  have  in  many  points  the  ignorance  of  the  times, 
and  absurd  theories  ;  but  mingled  with  this,  the  ac- 
curate description,  and  the  fresh  painting  of  natu- 
ral objects,  which  made  the  work  a  blessing  to  Italy 
and  the  delight  of  every  age. 

But  poems  in  our  own  language  are  not  only 
quite  equal  in  this  respect  to  the  Greek  and  Latin, 
but  surpass  them.  Thompson  sings  of  the  seasons ; 
but  they  are  the  grand  moving  panorama,  that 
would  be  blank  canvas,  but  for  the  objects  of  nature 
which  follow  in  quick  succession.  He  paints  with  a 
master's  hand,  and  the  charm  that  envelops  the 
whole  is  the  picturing,  so  true  to  nature  that  you 
seem  in  the  mine  where  crystals  shine,  and  by 
brooks  where  the  flowers  blossom.  In  his  tribute  to 
the  sun,  the  gems  seem  to  glisten  as  though  set  in  a 
coronet  of  beauty. 

"  The  lively  diamond  drinks  thy  purest  rays, 
Collected  light,  compact,  .... 
At  thee  the  ruby  lights  its  deepening  glow, 
And  with  a  waving  radiance  inward  flames ; 


68  NATURAL    HISTORY 


From  thee  the  sapphire,  solid  ether,  takes 
Its  hue  cerulean  ;  and  of  evening  tinct 
The  purple-streaming  amethyst  is  thine. 
With  thy  own  smile  the  yellow  topaz  burns, 
Nor  deeper  verdure  dyes  the  robe  of  spring, 
When  first  she  gives  it  to  the  southern  gale, 
Than  the  green  emerald  shows.     But  all  combined, 
Thick  through  the  whitening  opal  plays  thy  beam." 

This  reminds  us  at  once  of  the  beautiful  descrip- 
tion of  the  Russian  jewels  by  Bayard  Taylor,  whose 
language  seems  rich  and  brilliant  as  though  gilded 
with  the  light  of  the  gems  it  describes. 

"  The  splendor  of  their  tints  is  a  delicious  intoxi- 
cation to  the  eye.  The  soul  of  all  the  fiery  roses  of 
Persia  lives  in  these  rubies,  the  freshness  of  all  vel- 
vet sward,  whether  in  Alpine  valley  or  English 
lawn,  in  these  emeralds ;  the  bloom  of  all  southern 
seas  in  these  sapphires,  and  the  essence  of  a  thou- 
sand harvest-moons  in  these  necklaces  of  pearl." 

We  might  thus  follow  our  own  poets  through  this 
same  path,  as  they  not  only  adorn  their  language 
by  introducing  objects  of  Natural  History,  but  have 
so  faithfully  described  the  various  objects  in  all  its 
kingdoms,  that  they  teach  as  well  as  delight  us.  In 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  69 


Bryant's  poems  the  beauties  are  truly  the  beauty  of 
Nature.  The  flowers  blossom,  and  the  birds  sing. 
The  grove  is  filled  with  life,  and  every  object  is 
drawn  with  a  master's  pencil,  that  gives  Nature's 
own  form  and  color  to  the  streak  of  jet  on  the  vio- 
let's lip.  To  meet  the  demand  of  Taste,  these  sons  of 
genius  and  of  song  go  forth  into  Nature's  ample 
field  to  select  their  subjects  and  their  illustrations. 
Heroic  verse  might  flourish  in  an  earlier  age,  when 
heroes  were  demi-gods;  but  for  the  beauty  of  our 
English  verse,  we  have  no  more  propitious  muses 
than  the  birds  and  flowers,  no  loftier  Parnassus  than 
the  hill  of  science. 

If  we  needed  higher  illustration  of  the  power  of 
natural  objects  to  adorn  language  and  gratify  Taste 
than  we  have  in  the  poets,  we  should  appeal  at  once 
to  the  Bible.  Those  most  opposed  to  its  teachings 
have  acknowledged  its  beauty,  and  this  is  due 
mainly  to  the  exquisite  use  of  Natural  History  ob- 
jects for  illustration.  It  does  indeed  draw  from 
every  field.  But  when  the  emotional  nature  was  to 
be  appealed  to,  the  reference  was  at  once  to  natural 
objects,  and  throughout  all  its  books,  the  objects  of 


TO  NATURAL    HISTORY 


Natural  History  are  prominent  as  illustrations  of 
the  beauties  of  religion,  and  the  glories  of  the 
Church. 

How  could  the  most  refined  taste  be  more  highly 
gratified,  than  by  some  of  these  beautiful  illustra- 
tions of  prophecy  ? 

"The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place  shall  be 
glad  for  them,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose." 

"The  mountains  and  the  hills  shall  break  forth 
before  you  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of  the 
field  shall  clap  their  hands.  Instead  of  the  thorn 
shall  come  up  the  fir-tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier 
shall  come  up  the  myrtle-tree." 

"We  know  that  it  was  no  mere  lover  of  Nature  in 
the  general,  but  the  royal  student  of  Natural  His- 
tory, who  knew  plants,  from  the  cedar  of  Lebanon 
to  the  Hyssop  in  the  wall,  who  penned  that  picture 
of  nature  which  never  can  be  surpassed  for  its 
beauty. 

"  For  lo,  the  winter  is  passed,  the  rain  is  over  and 
gone,  the  flowers  appear  on  the  earth,  the  time  of 
the  singing  of  birds  has  come,  and  the  voice  of  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  71 


turtle  is  heard  in  our  land  ;  the  fig-tree  putteth  forth 
her  green  figs,  and  the  vines  with  the  tender  grapes 
give  a  good  smell." 

The  power  and  beauty  of  these  same  objects  ap- 
pear in  the  Saviour's  teachings.  The  fig  and  the 
olive,  the  sparrow,  and  the  lily  of  the  field,  give  a 
peculiar  force  and  beauty  to  the  great  truths  they 
were  used  to  illustrate. 

The  glories  of  the  holy  city  in  the  Apocalyptic  vis- 
ion could  only  be  set  forth  in  the  symbols  of  gems. 
Its  foundations  were  of  sapphire  and  emerald,  of 
topaz  and  amethyst.  And  every  several  gate  was 
of  one  pearl. 

Thus,  then,  in  all  adorning  of  common  language, 
in  the  beauty  of  poetry,  and  in  the  vivid  pictures  of 
divine  inspiration,  the  sweetest  note  that  strikes  the 
ear  comes  from  the  landscape,  the  brightest  picture 
is  the  landscape  itself.  All  that  Taste  has  ever  de- 
manded for  her  gratification,  Genius  has  here  found, 
and  as  God  is  the  author  of  both  nature  and  mind, 
here  among  the  crystals,  flowers,  and  sensitive  life, 
must  the  emotional  nature  of  man  find  its  highest 
earthly  gratification. 


72  NATURAL    HISTORY 


In  painting  and  sculpture,  the  human  mind  is 
striving  for  the  same  that  appears  in  poetry,  and  the 
adorning  of  common  language.  That  love  of  the 
beautiful  must  not  only  be  gratified  with  descrip- 
tions upon  which  the  thought  can  dwell,  but  we 
would  look  into  the  minds  of  others  and  see  the 
pictures  into  which  imagination  weaves  these  ob- 
jects for  them.  It  is  only  as  they  can  present  to  the 
the  eye,  by  the  pencil  and  chisel,  the  subjects  of 
their  thoughts,  that  we  can  compare  our  imaginary 
scenes  with  theirs,  and  learn  what  different  emotions 
the  same  words  and  the  same  objects  awaken  in 
different  minds. 

As  nature  is  the  storehouse  from  which  wri- 
ters draw,  and  the  pattern  according  to  which 
they  must  work,  so  must  this  also  be  true  of  the 
painter  and  sculptor,  who  would  trace  upon  the 
canvas,  and  chisel  from  cold  marble,  figures  that 
shall  glow  forever  with  the  warm  expression  of 
life. 

There  is  a  mathematical  law  of  development,  and 
a  constancy  of  expression  in  the  minute  markings  of 
species  that  nature  never  omits,  which  can  never  be 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  73 


neglected  by  the  artist,  if  he  would  meet  the 
demands  of  that  true  taste  which  delights  in  the 
truthfulness  of  works  of  art,  rather  than  in  the  glare 
of  colors,  or  the  grotesque  in  form. 

Poetry,  painting,  and  sculpture  have  moved  on 
together  in  all  ages.  "  The  whole  compass  of 
ancient  poetry  was  in  fact  reshaped  in  the  marble  of 
the  Grecian  sculptors,  and  delineated  anew  on  the 
canvas  of  the  painters."  Perhaps  this  union  of  the 
three  is  not  so  strongly  marked  in  our  time,  but 
though  diverging  more,  they  are  still  like  triple 
stars  of  complementary  colors,  all  forming  one  sys- 
tem, and  all  needed  for  the  expression  of  the 
emotions  of  Taste,  and  each  moving  in  an  orbit 
varied  by  the  others.  While  one  is  in  the  heathen 
heaven,  among  the  gods  and  goddesses,  the  others 
are  there  also,  and  when  one  returns  to  earth,  the 
others  bear  her  company.  On  the  canvas  and  in 
the  marble,  are  the  sensible  expressions  which 
poetry  created, — though  the  poet's  brain,  and  the 
painter's  and  sculptor's  cunning,  have  sometimes 
been  the  possession  of  a  single  man.  He  is  the 
true  genius,  and  we  know  what  in  his  creations 


74  NATURAL     HISTORY 


gives  us  most  delight;  it  is  the  truthfulness  of 
nature  which  they  present — a  truthfulness  becoming 
more  apparent  as  they  are  longer  studied.  We  do 
not  expect  in  his  productions  the  serrate  mountains 
of  granite,  where  nature  has  covered  the  hills  with 
the  smooth  belts  of  slate  and  softer  stone. 

"We  may  not  be  able  to  point  out  every  fault  in  a 
work  of  art — from  our  defective  education  we  may 
even  praise  such  works  when  faulty  ;  but  it  is  a  law 
as  established  as  the  courses  of  the  stars,  that  works 
of  art  live  only  as  they  have  the  beauty  and  truth 
which  accurate  study  of  natural  objects  can  alone 
give  them. 

This  is  the  ground  of  Ruskin's  criticism  of  the 
famous  statue  of  Laocoon.  We  may  remember 
that  all  the  circumstances  were  out  of  the  ordinary 
course,  and  thus  be  carried  along  by  the  power  of 
the  poet  and  the  skill  of  the  sculptor;  but  in 
ordinary  pieces,  snakes  must  not  feed  like  wolves, 
but,  true  to  their  nature,  only  crush  by  their  tight- 
ening folds. 

The  need  of  accurate  study  of  nature  is  proved  by 
the  practice  of  the  best  masters.  The  painter  and 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  T5 


sculptor  study  every  bone  and  muscle  with  the 
accuracy  of  the  naturalist  or  the  professional  anato- 
mist. The  statue  which  seems  like  an  enchanted 
form  of  Arabian  tales,  ready  to  start  into  life  at  the 
first  blast  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  charger  with 
expanded  nostril  and  rearing  form,  so  life-like  that 
he  seems  bounding  from  his  granite  pedestal,  were 
no  creations  of  mere  casual  study.  But  days  and 
weeks,  the  points  of  living  expression  were  fixed  by 
the  same  study  that  must  be  given  by  the  Audu- 
bons  and  Agassiz  of  Natural  History. 

"With  painting  arid  sculpture,  in  ancient  times, 
architecture  was  intimately  connected.  Though 
this  relation  can  never  be  broken,  it  is  not  now  so 
marked.  With  us,  architecture,  so  far  as  it  relates 
to  adorning  and  beauty  of  expression — and  in  these 
respects  alone  can  it  be  denominated  a  fine  art — is 
intimately  connected  with  landscape  gardening. 
This  may  not  be  true  of  public  buildings — they  still 
must  borrow  their  ornaments  from  ancient  patterns  ; 
but  so  far  as  architecture  can  be  applied  to  the 
homes  of  the  people,  it  is  united  with  gardening, 
which  has  been  raised  from  the  rank  of  the  useful 


76  NAT  URAL    HISTORY 


arts,  to  one  of  the  most  effective  means  of  minister- 
ing to  Taste. 

"We  might  repeat  in  reference  to  ancient  architec- 
ture, what  we  have  already  said  of  the  necessity  of 
the  study  of  nature ;  for  it  speaks  from  the  broken 
master-pieces  chiseled  under  the  eye,  if  not  by  the 
hand  of  Phidias.  The  very  form  and  peculiar 
ornaments  of  some  of  the  orders — the  acanthus  of 
the  Corinthian  capital,  the  points  and  arches  of  the 
tree-formed  Gothic — only  have  their  full  expression, 
and  the  expression  its  full  appreciation,  from  a  care- 
ful study  of  nature. 

But  for  our  homes,  we  have  exchanged  the  forms 
that  were  the  offsprings  of  mythology  and  supersti- 
tious reverence  of  the  gods  in  high  places,  for  the 
rustic  beauty  of  varied  forms  more  pleasing  to  the 
rural  deities,  which  are  the  only  ones  our  fancy  can 
still  perceive  lurking  in  our  glens  and  among  the 
groves  yet  spared  by  that  avaricious  Vandalism 
which  has  stripped  of  their  ornaments  so  many  hill- 
sides. 

Home  architecture  and  landscape  gardening  are 
necessary  complements  of  each  other — together  they 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  77 


must  grow,  becoming  more  beautiful  at  the  demand 
of  Taste ;  culling  every  flower,  twining  every  vine 
as  in  its  own  native  thicket — inviting  even  the 
birds,  until  home  itself  shall  seem  to  have  sprung 
from  the  earth,  at  the  touch  of  some  magician, 
whose  whole  soul  had  drunk  in  the  beauties  of  the 
river,  plain,  and  mountain.  In  this  department  of 
the  fine  arts  our  country  has  most  to  hope,  for  the 
poorest  man  can  enjoy  it  as  well  as  the  rich. 
Money  is  not  wanted,  as  in  the  purchase  of  costly 
pictures  and  fine  statuary,  but  nature  offers  the 
beauties — all  we  need  is  the  eye  to  perceive  and  the 
power  to  combine  the  materials  which  she  furnishes. 
These  constitute  the  democratic  division  of  the  fine 
arts,  equal  to  the  best,  and  yet  within  the  reach  of 
all.  There  are  true,  elevating,  and  unfailing  sources 
of  enjoyment,  which  the  poorest  laborer  can  enjoy 
as  free  as  the  air  of  heaven.  They  are  in  the  field 
he  tills,  along  the  road  he  travels,  in  the  ocean 
he  navigates ;  everywhere  he  looks  he  might  see 
more  beautiful  objects  than  adorn  the  galleries  of 
the  richest  nobleman.  But  to  see  them  he  must  be 

taught  to  observe.     He  must  study  every  object  till 

7* 


78  NATURAL    HISTORY 


he  perceives  its  beauty,  "for  be  sure  it  is  there." 
Perhaps  some  general  admirer  of  nature  may  im- 
agine he  at  least  has  seen  and  perceived — for  there 
is  a  vast  difference  between  them — all  the  possible 
beauties  of  nature.  He  believes  this  beauty  to  be 
found  only  in  the  general  effect,  and  not  in  the 
single  objects  as  studied  by  the  Natural  Historian. 
Does  not  the  general  effect  of  the  picture  depend 
upon  single  lines  ?  If  you  think  you  have  by  this 
general  survey  discovered  all  the  beauties  of  nature, 
walk  into  your  own  fields  with  the  Mineralogist,  and 
you  may  see  crystals  gleam  where  you  never  sus- 
pected their  existence ;  go  with  the  Botanist,  and 
new  flowers  will  seem  to  spring  up  along  your  path, 
and  new  beauties  appear  in  those  known  to  you 
before  ;  the  Entomologist  will  drag  from  his  lurking 
place  "the  beetle,  panoplied  with  gems  and  gold  ;" 
the  Ornithologist  will  point  out  new  birds  which 
have  been  seeking  your  acquaintance  since  childhood. 
"We  have  seen  this  effect  in  young  persons  in  a 
course  of  education.  They  professed  to  admire  Na- 
ture, and  to  be  able  to  perceive  her  beauties.  Let 
now  the  study  of  Natural  History  demand  of  them 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  79 


accurate  and  systematic  study,  and  it  seems  almost 
to  implant  within  them  a  new  sense.  What  ex- 
clamations of  surprise  and  admiration  break  forth 
from  them  in  their  excursions !  What  new  flowers 
they  now  discover ! — they  have  been  treading  upon 
them  unheeding  their  beauties  all  their  lives.  What 
strange  birds  ! — they  have  been  flitting  above  their 
heads  for  twenty  summers.  And  now,  by  this  sim- 
ple process,  there  is  awakened  the  power  of  perceiv- 
ing and  appreciating  the  beautiful,  that  seems  like 
the  richness  and  music  of  spring  compared  with  the 
death  of  winter.  When  carried  farther,  there  comes 
the  power  of  combining  these  objects  so  as  to  repro- 
duce, when  we  please,  the  same  sweet  scenes  which 
nature  plans  in  some  far-off  hill  or  glen.  To  pro- 
duce this  general  effect,  it  may  be  thought  that 
only  general  notions  are  needed.  This  is  undoubt- 
edly true,  if  we  refer  to  the  emotion  of  grandeur,  in 
producing  which  magnitude  is  more  powerful  than 
form.  But  for  the  emotion  of  "beauty  ^  we  must  have 
these  objects  arranged  as  he  only  can  arrange  them 
who  has  studied  their  minutest  marking,  every  form, 
and  every  tint. 


80  NATURAL    HISTORY 


This  power  of  combining  to  produce  the  effect  of 
nature,  like  a  simple  style  of  writing,  seems  easy  to 
all,  but  is  hard  to  acquire.  And  one  who  com- 
mences it  supposing  he  shall  succeed  because  he  has 
been  a  general  admirer  of  nature,  will  have  occasion 
to  blush  for  his  mistakes,  and  will  find  it  hard  to  be 
natural  unless  he  takes  long  and  patient  lessons  of 
the  only  teacher,  Nature  herself — fixing  his  eye 
upon  every  object  till  its  last  touch  is  stamped  upon 
the  mind.  Then  it  can  be  used,  then  it  is  a  posses- 
sion, and  "  a  joy  forever."  The  power  which  this 
study  gives  is  well  illustrated  in  the  mounting  of 
birds,  which  some  think  ought  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  fine  arts.  The  learner  may  become  skill- 
ful in  the  manual  part.  Every  feather  may  be  in 
its  place  as  pure  and  unruffled  as  in  life — the  eye  of 
glass  may  rival  the  real  eye  in  brilliancy,  and  still 
there  is  death.  One  touch  from  the  master's  hand, 
and  you  almost  start  back  from  the  living  bird. 
The  power  of  life  lights  the  eye  and  seems  to  reach 
the  tip  of  every  feather.  "Whence  came  the  magic 
power  ?  It  came  from  the  careful  study  of  the  bird, 
till  every  varying  change  of  life  was  daguerreotyped 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  81 


in  the  mind.  If  the  common  mind  is  to  be  trained 
to  the  love  of  the  beautiful,  it  must  be  in  the  great 
gallery  of  nature,  and  by  gazing  like  students  be- 
fore the  works  of  the  great  masters,  till  every  line 
and  tint  are  fastened  in  the  mind,  and  beauty  is  liv- 
ing in  the  soul. 

Lord  Kames  tells  us  that  "  those  who  depend  for 
food  on  bodily  labor  are  totally  void  of  taste,  of 
such  a  taste  indeed  as  can  be  of  use  in  the  fine  arts." 
He  would  hardly  have  written  that  in  our  day. 
We  seem  to  see  Hugh  Miller  come  up  from  the 
hard  work  of  Scotland's  stone  quarries,  with  a  soul 
as  noble,  a  taste  as  refined,  with  the  highest  emo- 
tions as  keen  as  he  looked  away  upon  the  varied 
landscape,  with  the  eye  of  a  naturalist  and  the  soul 
of  a  poet,  as  the  wealthiest  lord  ever  possessed  when 
walking  among  the  works  of  art  that  only  princely 
wealth  could  purchase.  No  other  language  can 
equal  his  own  glowing  description,  as  he  thus  re- 
cords the  experience  of  his  second  day  as  stone 
quarryman.  "  I  was  as  light  of  heart  next  morning 
as  any  of  my  brother  workmen.  There  had  been  a 
smart  frost  during  the  night,  and  the  rime  lay  white 

4* 


82  NATURAL    HISTORY 


on  the  grass  as  we  passed  onward  through  the 
fields ;  but  the  sun  rose  in  a  clear  atmosphere,  and 
the  day  mellowed,  as  it  advanced,  into  one  of  those 
delightful  days  of  early  spring,  which  give  so  pleas- 
ing an  earnest  of  whatsoever  is  mild  and  genial  in 
the  better  half  of  the  year.  All  the  workmen  rested 
at  mid-day,  and  I  went  to  enjoy  my  half-hour  alone 
on  a  mossy  knoll  in  the  neighboring  wood,  which 
commands  through  the  trees  a  wide  prospect  of  the 
bay  and  the  opposite  shore.  There  was  not  a  wrin- 
kle on  the  water,  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  and  the 
branches  were  as  moveless  in  the  calm  as  if  they 
had  been  traced  on  canvas.  From  a  wooded 
promontory  that  stretches  half  way  across  the  frith, 
there  ascended  a  thin  column  of  smoke.  It  rose 
straight  as  the  line  of  a  plummet  for  more  than  a 
thousand  yards,  and  then  on  reaching  a  thinner 
stratum  of  air,  spread  out  equally  on  every  side,  like 
the  foliage  of  a  stately  tree.  Ben  Nevis  rose  to  the 
west,  white  with  the  yet  unwasted  snows  of  winter, 
and  as  sharply  denned  in  the  clear  atmosphere,  as  if 
all  its  sunny  slopes  and  blue  retiring  hollows  had 
been  chiseled  in  marble."  .... 


AS    BELATED    TO    TASTE.  83 


"  I  returned  to  the  quarry,  convinced  that  a  very 
exquisite  pleasure  may  be  a  very  cheap  one,  and 
that  the  busiest  employments  may  afford  leisure 
enough  to  enjoy  it." 

There  is  a  growing  Taste  among  our  people — it  is 
sad  indeed  that  its  growth  is  so  slow — which  proves 
that  honest  toil  does  not  destroy  nor  dwarf  the  ca- 
pacity of  enjoying  the  beautiful.  It  can  not,  how- 
ever, be  fostered  by  galleries  of  art,  for  they  are  rare 
among  us.  It  is  upon  Nature  we  must  depend ;  and 
Landscape  Gardening,  by  the  genius  of  Downing,  is 
gathering  scenes  of  tasteful  beauty  around  many  a 
humble  home.  His  works  were  to  America,  what 
the  Georgics  were  for  ancient  Italy.  The  vine  and 
the  apple,  the  flower  and  the  hedge,  the  velvet  lawn 
and  stately  tree,  all  that  beautifies  the  landscape, 
were  objects  of  his  care.  Through  his  influence, 
many  places  are  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  refining  to 
the  taste,  which  but  for  him  would  have  remained 
rugged  and  neglected. 

The  homes  in  cold,  rugged  New  England,  in  the 
sunny  South,  and  on  the  western  prairies,  will  have 
more  beauty,  and  the  children  reared  there  will  be 


84  NATURAL    HISTORY 


men  and  women  of  more  refinement,  because  Down- 
ing was  a  lover  of  Nature. 

It  is  meet  that  his  monument  should  stand  upon 
our  national  grounds  at  "Washington,  not  only  be- 
cause they  were  beautified  by  his  hand,  and  because 
his  influence  was  national,  but  that  every  American 
might  read  the  words  he  penned  while  living,  now 
engraven  on  the  stone. 

"  The  taste  of  an  individual  as  well  as  a  nation 
will  "be  in  direct  proportion  to  the  profound  sensibil- 
ity with  which  he  perceives  the  beautiful  in  natural 
scenery" 

Thus  has  Natural  History  ever  been  the  field 
where  the  objects  of  taste  have  been  gathered  in  the 
greatest  abundance,  and  it  must  ever  be  the  great 
source  of  the  pure  and  beautiful  images  which  the 
progress  of  the  Fine  Arts  demands.  The  cultivation 
of  Taste  is  sneered  at  by  those  who  talk  wisely  of 
utility,  but  its  value  can  not  be  over-estimated ;  and 
its  progress  must  move  on  necessarily  with  the 
study  of  Nature,  especially  with  that  more  accurate 
study  which  we  denominate  Natural  History. 

The  accurate  study  of  this  science  stores  the  mind 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  85 


with  images  of  things  formed  by  God  himself;  they 
are,  then,  so  far  as  art  is  concerned,  "  the  true  and 
the  beautiful."  This  it  accomplishes  by  educating 
the  senses.  It  also  prepares  men  to  receive  and 
cherish  every  form  of  beauty,  by  carrying  the 
thoughts  up  to  the  divine  source  of  all  created 
things,  thus  developing  the  higher  spiritual  nature 
and  purifying  the  soul.  In  a  polluted  soul,  no 
perfect  image  of  beauty  can  dwell — it  can  not  be 
formed  there;  like  a  distorted  mirror,  the  clearest 
light  may  fall  upon  it  and  the  most  beautiful 
objects  may  pass  before  it,  but  the  images  formed 
will  be  changed  in  proportion  or  relation.  The 
beautiful  will  be  reflected  as  hideously  deformed, 
while  the  loathsome  and  horrid  may  be  thrown 
back  distorted  into  the  perfect.  But  to  the  mind 
and  soul  capable  of  perceiving,  nature  offers  stand- 
ards in  color,  form,  relation,  and  proportion,  set  by 
Him  who  is  the  author  of  mind  as  He  is  also  of  the 
external  world,  and  therefore  they  must  be  correct. 
"  He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  he  not  see  ?" — and 
He  that  formed  the  mind,  shall  He  not  understand 
its  wants  and  provide  for  the  demands  of  Taste  as 


86  NATURAL    HIS  TORY 


perfectly  as  He  lias  for  every  other  want  of  our 

\ 

being  ? 

The  whole  history  of  the  Fine  Arts  shows  that 
God  has  here  established  immutable  relations,  and 
those  works  alone  have  stood  the  test  of  time  that 
approach  the  patterns  which  He  has  given.  The 
voice  of  the  Most  High  speaks  to  the  artist  as  to 
Moses  in  the  building  of  the  Tabernacle — "And 
look  that  thou  make  them  after  their  pattern  which 
was  showed  thee  in  the  Mount." 

The  study  of  nature  is  within  the  reach  of  all,  and 
if  studied  as  it  ought  to  be,  the  many  may  become 
judges  of  the  objects  of  taste,  rather  than  the  few. 
The  effect  of  this  on  the  Fine  Arts  would  be  marked. 
It  is  said  that  the  most  illiterate  shopman  of  Rome 
is  a  better  judge  of  pictures  and  statuary,  than  those 
of  the  most  refined  education  in  London,  which 
certainly  has  many  advantages  over  most  American 
cities.  In  such  a  place  as  Home,  a  poor  work  of 
art  could  hardly  be  produced — certainly  could 
never  be  praised  for  excellence.  We  have  no  such 
means  for  creating  a  correct  taste  for  these  works, 
because  galleries  of  art  are  rare,  and  in  our  hurry 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  87 


we  might  not  find  leisure  to  study  them.  But  we 
have  a  noble  and  neglected  substitute — the  beauti- 
ful objects  of  nature,  which  might  delight  us  even  in 
hours  of  hardest  toil. 

In  the  effects  produced  by  objects  of  Natural 
History,  we  have  referred  almost  exclusively  to  the 
emotion  of  beauty — but  they  certainly  offer  for 
contemplation  the  grand  and  sublime.  What  grand- 
er field  for  the  imagination  than  is  offered  by  the 
revelations  of  Geology?  The  object  presented  may 
of  itself  be  insignificant  to  a  common  mind,  not 
perhaps  perceived,  or  if  noticed  it  does  not  awaken 
a  single  emotion.  How  very  different  the  same 
mark  or  pebble  may  become  to  the  student !  For 
him,  a  single  line  across  the  granite  of  the  moun- 
tains carries  the  mind  back  to  the  time  when 
Neptune  made  war  against  the  hills,  and  hurled 
against  them  his  whole  enginery  of  waves  and  ice. 
A  single  vein  in  the  rock  summons  up  the  scenes  of 
the  Plutonic  dynasty,  whose  records  are  the  ever- 
lasting hills  and  the  dykes  that  divide  the  broken 
strata.  As  he  unfolds  the  stony  leaves  of  the  earth, 
a  thing  of  beauty,  a  single  fossil,  may  tell  to  his 


88  NATURAL    HISTORY 


instructed  mind  a  story  of  grandeur  and  sublimity 
It  may  repeople  the  earth  with  wondrous  forms, 
pour  the  oceans  upon  the  sinking  land,  and  move 
the  hills  like  watery  billows. 

The  fancy  roams  through  all  the  beauties  and 
grandeur  of  the  early  earth.  If  we  have  never  had 
the  privilege  of  studying  one  of  Nature's  galleries  of 
ancient  art,  we  can  not  do  better  than  to  hear  Buck- 
land  describe  the  richness  of  the  Bohemian  coal 
mines. 

"The  most  elaborate  imitations  of  living  foliage 
upon  the  painted  ceilings  of  Italian  palaces,  bear  no 
comparison  with  the  beauteous  profusion  of  extinct 
vegetable  forms  with  which  the  galleries  of  these 
instructive  coal  mines  are  overhung.  The  roof  is 
covered  as  with  a  canopy  of  gorgeous  tapestry, 
enriched  with  festoons  of  most  graceful  foliage, 
flung  in  wild,  irregular  profusion  over  every  portion 
of  its  surface.  The  effect  is  heightened  by  the 
contrast  of  the  coal-black  color  of  the  vegetables 
with  the  light  ground-work  of  the  rock  to  which 
they  are  attached.  The  spectator  feels  himself 
transported,  as  if  by  enchantment,  into  the  forests  of 


AS    RELATED    TO    TASTE.  89 


another  world ;  he  beholds  trees  of  forms  and  char- 
acters now  unknown  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
presented  to  his  senses  almost  in  the  beauty  and 
vigor  of  their  primeval  life;  their  scaly  stems  and 
bending  branches,  with  their  delicate  apparatus 
of  foliage,  are  all  spread  forth  before  him,  little 
impaired  by  the  lapse  of  countless  ages,  and  bearing 
faithful  records  of  extinct  systems  of  vegetation 
which  began  and  terminated  in  times  of  which 
these  relics  are  the  infallible  historians." 

But  we  are  told  that  the  Naturalist  loses  all  the 
poetry  of  Nature.  There  is  no  greater  mistake  than 
this.  He  has  become  so  accustomed  to  the  beauties 
of  nature  that  he  is  not  ready,  like  the  novice,  to 
utter  exclamations  of  surprise.  Bring  into  a  fine 
gallery  of  paintings  or  of  statuary  one  entirely 
unaccustomed  to  such  works,  and  he  is  constantly 
manifesting  his  surprise  at  the  novelties,  and  is 
perhaps  equally  delighted  with  the  coarse  daub  and 
the  work  of  the  greatest  master.  Think  you  he 
enjoys  more  than  the  artist,  who  stands  silently 
drinking  in  the  beauties  for  the  hundredth  time  from 

the  fine  touches  which  the  other  never  perceives  ? 

8» 


90  NATURAL     HISTORY 


Burke  was  undoubtedly  a  great  man,  but  he 
made  a  great  mistake  when  he  said  that  "  our 
ignorance  of  nature  is  the  cause  of.  all  our  admira- 
tion." If  he  had  said  that  our  ignorance  is  the 
cause  of  all  our  exclamations,  it  would  have  been 
near  the  truth.  Give  to  the  naturalist  his  micro- 
scope, and  let  him  see  new  beauties  in  the  wing  of 
an  insect  or  the  veins  of  a  leaf  that  he  never  saw 
before,  and  you  hear  him.  exclaiming  as  others 
do  when  they  look  upon  beauties  that  he  has  seen 
hundreds  of  times.  Our  exclamations  are  not  signs 
that  we  see  or  appreciate  the  beauties  of  nature 
more  than  others,  but  simply  that  we  see  them  now 
for  the  first  time. 

Wander,  then,  through  beautiful  cabinets,  and 
each  day  they  will  become  more  beautiful ;  go  out 
into  the  fields  and  study  with  care  every  object 
there,  and  you  will  be  astonished  at  the  beauties 
which  God  has  scattered  with  such  a  liberal  hand, 
that  scarcely  a  place  can  be  found  where  some 
have  not  fallen,  though  unperceived  by  the  hurry- 
ing multitude. 


AS    RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  91 


LECTUKE  III. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH. 

IT  is  sometimes  pleasant  to  journey  alone,  and 
sometimes  we  choose  the  highway  where  we  are 
sure  of  companions.  In  our  speculations,  we  may 
like  to  strike  out  new  paths,  or  at  least  to  travel  in 
those  that  are  unbeaten  ;  but  if  we  would  find  ready 
listeners,  we  must  select  those  subjects  on  which  all 
in  the  main  agree,  and  consider  those  relations 
which  all  can  readily  understand.  If  we  can  open 
a  road  to  wealth,  we  are  sure  that  it  will  never  be 
deserted.  The  riches  may  be  in  the  gold-dust  scat- 
tered in  the  sands  of  some  far-off  plain,  or  in  the 
whale  and  seal  among  the  icebergs  of  the  northern 
seas,  or  in  the  deep-caverned  mines  of  coal, — the 
way  will  be  crowded.  Hundreds  may  fail,  but 
others  rush  to  take  their  places,  as  though  this  were 
the  great  battle  of  life,  and  the  watchword  were 
"victory  or  death."  No  nation  in  the  world  is 
more  ardent  in  the  struggle  for  these  prizes  of 


92  NAT  URAL    HISTORY 


money  value  than  ours,  if  we  judge  by  the  eagerness 
with  which  we  devise  plans,  and  our  willingness  to 
endure  labors.  The  money  value  is  the  one  w^e 
oftenest  quote,  and  when  we  remember  its  power 
we  can  hardly  wonder  that  we  do  so.  It  is  a  neces- 
sary means  for  the  growth  of  the  fine  arts,  as  well  as 
the  moving  power  of  the  useful.  It  renders  possi- 
ble those  gigantic  schemes  by  which  progress  is 
hastened,  seas  covered  with  commerce,  mountains 
pierced  with  tunnels,  states  joined  by  roads  of 
iron,  and  nations  joined  with  telegraphic  cables. 
We  are  not  only  taking  a  ground  of  common  inter- 
est when  we  consider  the  bearing  of  Natural  His- 
tory upon  Wealth,  but  one  deservedly  so,  for  it  is 
important.  Should  we  define  wealth  as  some  seem 
to  do,  with  good  reason,  as  any  thing  which  can  be 
enjoyed  or  purchase  enjoyment,  we  should  give  it  a 
much  wider  signification  than  is  usually  connect- 
ed with  it;  but  our  work  for  the  present  will  be 
more  simple  if  we  give  it  the  common  meaning, 
which  is  money,  or  something  which  money  rep- 
resents. 
The  most  obvious  benefit  of  Natural  History  is 


AS    RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  93 


the  development  of  new  resources  of  wealth.  And 
in  this  respect  Geology  and  Mineralogy  stand  pre- 
eminent. So  far  as  the  mineral  resources  of  the 
earth  are  concerned,  they  can  not  be  over-estimated, 
and  they  are  most  readily  perceived  and  most  ea- 
gerly sought  for.  A  portion  of  the  metals  and  other 
valuable  minerals  are  so  accessible  that  they  have 
been  reached  by  men  in  all  ages.  But  the  amount 
thus  accidentally  found  would  fall  far  short  of  the 
present  wants  of  man,  and  those  wants  will  rapidly 
increase  every  year.  The  most  valuable  often  ap- 
pear under  forms  that  would  only  be  recognized  by 
adepts  in  mineralogy.  Others  can  be  discovered 
and  followed  only  by  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
structure  of  the  earth's  crust.  They  must  be  sought 
for  by  the  light  of  science.  There  is  a  natural  con- 
nection between  certain  rocks  and  valuable  deposits, 
as  the  salt-beds  and  brine-springs  with  the  New 
Red  Sandstone.  A  knowledge  of  these  connections 
gives  certainty  in  investigations,  and  this  knowledge 
is  the  fruit  of  geological  study.  And  should  a 
mine  by  accident  be  discovered,  it  is  only  the  prin- 
ciples of  this  department  of  Natural  History  that 


91  NAT  URAL    HISTORY 


can  determine  its  value,  and  give  security  in  the 
investment  of  capital. 

Any  other  mineral  sinks  into  comparative  insig- 
nificance if  valued  with  coal.  The  whole  history  of 
this  valuable  substance  is  an  argument  in  favor  of 
the  study  of  Natural  History.  In  searching  for  it, 
millions  of  dollars  have  been  thrown  away  in  bor- 
ing rocks  in  which  a  pound  of  it  could  never  be 
found.  In  fact,  the  substance  which  has  misled  the 
majority,  is  itself  a  positive  proof  that  no  coal  is  to 
be  expected. 

By  the  curious,  and  I  might  say  wonderful  revela- 
tions of  Geology,  vast  beds  of  this  substance  have 
been  discovered  where  no  accidental  discovery 
could  ever  be  made.  And  when  discovered,  their 
productiveness  and  method  of  working  are  deter- 
mined by  the  principles  established  by  this  same  de- 
partment of  science.  This  is  of  yearly  occurrence. 
No  country  in  the  world  is  richer  than  ours  in  this 
and  nearly  all  other  valuable  minerals.  These  con- 
stitute no  small  part  of  our  national  wealth.  And 
they  are  destined  yearly  to  become  more  important 
because  of  the  increasing  demand,  the  discovery  of 


AS    RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  95 


new  deposits,  and  more  efficient  and  economical 
methods  of  working  them.  Our  coal,  our  iron,  lead, 
and  gold  are  inexhaustible,  and  must  give  us  im- 
mense resources  when  fully  developed. 

Look  at  England,  and  inquire  the  sources  of  her 
wealth  and  power.  Lock  up  in  her  hills  and  valleys 
her  coal  and  iron  and  all  her  other  mineral  wealth, 
and  you  have  taken  from  her  one  great  element 
of  her  power.  It  is  the  mineral  wealth  in  that  little 
island,  developed  by  the  science  of  her  distinguished 
men,  that  enables  her  to  manufacture  almost  for  the 
world.  Her  coal  moves  the  thousand  looms  and 
ponderous  hammers  that  load  her  ships  with  fabrics 
and  swell  her  revenues.  It  has  been  referred  to  as 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  influence  of  mineral 
wealth,  that  fourteen  of  her  large  towns,  from  Exeter 
to  Carlisle,  are  built  along  the  strike  of  the  New 
Red  Sandstone.  To  that  formation  belong  the  brine- 
springs  and  beds  of  gypsum,  and  immediately  be- 
neath is  found  the  coal. 

Her  scientific  men  have  scanned  her  soils  and 
cliffs  beneath  them,  and  in  them  they  have  found 
the  means  of  civilization  and  comfort  at  home,  and 


96  NATURAL     HISTORY 


the  means  of  commanding  the  obedience  of  some 
nations,  the  money  and  respect  of  all.  We  have 
not  been  entirely  wanting  in  the  work  of  developing 
this  field  of  wealth.  Enough  has  been  done  to 
show  that  the  United  States  contains  some  of  the 
richest  mineral  districts  in  the  world.  We  may  not 
abound  in  gems ;  but  where  in  the  world  do  such 
beds  of  coal  and  mountains  of  iron  abound?  We 
see  in  them  the  elements  of  power ;  but  they  must 
be  developed,  and  the  field  enlarged  by  new  exami- 
nations and  discoveries.  Our  general  government 
has  not  neglected  this  portion  of  its  possessions.  It 
has  sent  out  its  geological  surveyors  to  examine 
and  locate  mineral  lands  ;  and  they  have  rendered 
important  service  in  developing  the  wealth  of  the 
country,  as  well  as  in  making  valuable  contributions 
to  science.  Our  States  have  also  understood  the 
value  of  these  investigations.  Large  sums  have 
been  appropriated  by  many  of  them.  And  in  none, 
so  far  as  I  know,  has  the  money  failed  to  yield  a 
full  return  in  kind,  besides  an  immense  benefit  to 
the  general  cause  of  science.  In  some,  the  return  in 
a  single  year  has  been  a  hundred-fold.  Such  explo- 


AS    RELATED    TOWEALTH.  97 


rations  do  not  produce  their  best  results  at  all  times 
in  the  discovery  of  minerals.  It  is  to  this  that  at- 
tention is  most  directed,  and  success  in  this  is  gen- 
erally the  criterion  by  which  they  are  judged. 
Other  objects  receive  attention.  They  point  out 
general  characteristics  of  soil  as  derived  from  cer- 
tain classes  of  rocks,  discover  fertilizers,  and  thus 
give  important  aid  to  agriculture.  They  point  out 
proper  building  materials  by  the  discovery  of  quar- 
ries, and  clays,  cements  and  paints.  Such  exam- 
inations in  many  cases  give  important  hints  in  en- 
gineering, the  draining  of  land,  the  sinking  of  Ar- 
tesian wells,  and  consequently  bear  upon  the  health- 
fulness  and  habitableness  of  large  tracts  of  land. 
In  all  these  incidental  methods,  Natural  History 
bestows  wealth,  without  receiving  credit  from  those 
benefited. 

States  have  generally  shown  their  wisdom  when 
ordering  geological  surveys,  by  connecting  with 
them  surveys  in  every  other  department  of  Natural 
History.  The  plants,  the  birds,  the  fishes,  the 
quadrupeds,  and  insects  have  each  been  deemed 
worthy  of  study.  Many  have  sneered  at  the  idea  of 


98  NATURAL    HISTORY 


voting  money  for  "bugs  and  hornpouts."  Yery 
many  have  favored  such  schemesy  hoping  that  a  coal 
mine,  at  least,  would  be  discovered  on  their  own 
farms ;  while  the  birds  and  fishes  were  added  and 
carried  along  by  some  shrewd  managers,  as  politi- 
cians would  say,  "  like  a  passenger  under  the  boot." 
These  departments  do  not  attract  attention  so 
readily,  because  their  connection  with  wealth  is  not 
so  direct  and  obvious  as  the  discovery  and  working 
of  minerals.  They  are  some  of  them  of  equal  im- 
portance, and  are  destined  yet  to  become  of  the  very 
highest  value  in  an  economic  point  of  view.  These 
investigations  add  to  the  number  of  the  useful 
plants,  teach  us  to  protect  them,  and  to  increase 
their  value. 

The  earth  produces  more  than  a  hundred  thou- 
sand species  of  plants ;  they  are  directly  or  indirectly 
serviceable  to  man.  This  is  true,  at  least  of  the 
greater  portion  of  them,  without  doubt.  The  lovers 
of  Botany,  from  the  days  of  Solomon  till  now,  have 
been  bringing  out  the  beautiful  a>nd  the  useful  in 
this  kingdom  of  nature.  What  multitudes  of  plants 
now  minister  to  health  and  luxury,  of  which  we 


AS    RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  99 


should  have  known  nothing  but  for  the  special  study 
of  this  science  of  Botany !  There  have  been  brought 
out  those  general  laws  of  classification  by  which 
the  general  properties  of  plants  are  inferred  from 
their  structure,  so  that  we  can,  as  it  were,  read  the 
labels  at  a  glance  which  nature  has  affixed  to  them, 
inviting  us  to  enjoy  or  warning  us  to  beware.  The 
history  of  this  science  shows  that  much  of  the  labor 
bestowed  upon  it  was  simply  to  classify  and  name. 
System  after  system — if  some  of  the  earlier  attempts 
could  be  called  systems — has  been  thrown  aside ; 
and  to  a  casual  observer  the  labor  seems  to  have 
been  lost — at  least  so  far  as  wealth  is  concerned. 
This  is  but  a  superficial  view.  Those  old  pioneers 
were  groping  toward  the  true  goal — their  progress 
helped  on  those  who  came  after,  their  mistakes 
warned  them ;  they  added  one  after  another  to  the 
list  of  useful  plants.  The  work  commenced  by 
them  has  kept  its  steady  course,  till  now  we  can 
hope  for  but  little  more  in  classification,  except  on 
some  isolated  points,  or  in  the  minutiae  of  the  de- 
tails. It  remains  to  perfect  local  floras — to  name 
those  plants  that  may  be  discovered — to  turn  the  at- 


100  NATURAL    HISTORY 


tention  more  generally  to  vegetable  physiology,  to 
the  unfolding  of  their  uses.  This  will  follow  neces- 
sarily when  the  preliminary  work  is  done  of  collect- 
ing and  naming.  This  has  been  fast  progressing  by 
the  study  and  labors  of  those  old  Botanists,  whom 
we  are  apt  to  think  of  as  remarkable  for  their  zeal 
alone. 

Enough  of  each  kingdom  is  accessible  to  men  for 
the  supply  of  their  wants  in  a  primitive,  simple  state 
of  society.  Those  portions  they  have  had  longer 
than  we  can  tell.  But  wThen  science  commences,  its 
first  work  is  to  classify  and  give  names.  When  this 
is  done,  the  nature  of  the  things  is  more  carefully 
studied  for  new  principles  of  classification,  or  to 
confirm  the  old.  This  very  process  brings  out  the 
useful  properties  of  some,  and.  the  noxious  char- 
acter of  others.  And  when  this  work  is  completed, 
the  possible  new  uses  are  the  regular,  almost  the 
necessary,  subject  of  study.  To  that  point  we  are 
fast  coming  in  the  study  of  the  vegetable  kingdom. 

The  triumphs  of  this  study  thus  far,  and  its  pro- 
phetic achievements,  are  graphically  given  by  the 
poet: 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      101 


"There   be   flowers   mating  glad   the   desert,   and   roots 

fattening  the  soil,  .... 
And   uses  above   and  around  which  man  hath  not  yet 

regarded. 
Not  long  to  chase  away  disease  hath  the  crocus  yielded 

up  its  bulb, 
Nor  the   willow  lent  its   leaf,  nor   the  night-shade  its 

vanquished  poison ; 
Not   long   hath   the   twisted   leaf,  the  fragrant  gift   of 

China, 

Nor  that  nutritious  root,  the  boon  of  far  Peru — 
Nor  the  many-colored  dahlia,  nor  the  gorgeous  flaunting 

cactus, 
Nor  the  multitude  of  fruits  and  flowers  ministered  to  life 

and  luxury  ]-:— 
Even  so  there  be  virtues  yet  unknown  in  the  wasted 

foliage  of  the  elm — 
In  the  sun-dried  harebell  of  the  downs,  and  the  hyacinth 

drinking  in  the  meadow — 
In  the  sycamore's  winged  fruit,  and  the  facet-cut  cones  of 

the  cedar. 
And  the  pansy  and  bright  geranium  live  not  alone  for 

beauty  ; 
Nor  the  waxen  flower  of  the  arbute,  though  it  dieth  in  a 

day; 
Nor  the  sculptured  crest  of  the  fir,  unseen  but  by  the 

stars — 

9* 


102  NATURAL    HISTORY 


And  the  meanest  weed  of  the  garden  serveth  unto  many 

uses, — 
The  salt  tamarask  and  juicy  flag,  the  freckled  orchis  and 

the  daisy. 
The  world  may  laugh  at  famine  when  forest-trees  yield 

bread, 
When  acorns  give  out  fragrant  drink,  and  the  sap  of  the 

linden  is  as  fatness  ; 

For  every  green  herb,  from  the  lotus  to  the  darnel, 
Is  rich  with  delicate  aids  to  help  incurious  man." 

To  accomplish  all  we  wish  and  all  we  expect,  in 
bringing  the  vegetable  world  to  render  its  riches 
more  abundantly,  we  must  undoubtedly  call  to  our 
aid  the  kindred  science  of  Chemistry.  But  here  is 
the  great  storehouse  of  materials.  All  our  food 
comes  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom.  The  root,  the  leaf,  the  flower,  the  fruit, 
the  sap,  each  in  turn  in  various  plants,  constitute 
directly  the  great  mass  of  our  sustenance.  And  the 
exception,  when  we  use  animal  food,  is  only 
apparent,  for  every  animal  used  for  food,  from  the 
oyster  to  the  ox,  is  directly  or  indirectly  dependent 
upon  plants  for  his  subsistence.  All  animals,  man 
included,  are  so  constituted  that  they  can  not  subsist 


AS     RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  103 


upon  inorganic  elements.  We  may  analyze  our 
food,  determine  its  exact  composition,  but  it  will 
not  enable  us  to  feed  on  minerals.  We  may  prove, 
with  all  the  science  of  a  Liebig,  that  charcoal  and 
air  and  water  contain  all  we  need,  but  we  know 
they  would  form  poor  fare  for  our  tables.  We  may 
call  in  the  aid  of  Chemistry,  with  all  its  power  to 
produce  transformation — give  it  a  magazine  of  the 
pure  elements — and  it  can  not  furnish  us  with  a 
single  grain  of  starch  nor  crystal  of  sugar,  nor  with 
any  thing  to  be  a  substitute  for  them.  The  plants 
are  the  only  chemists  that  can  take  up  these 
inorganic  materials,  and  in  the  wonderful  laboratory 
of  their  living  tissues  mold  them  into  forms  to 
support  animal  life.  All  that  I  have  said  of 
nutritive  plants  might  also  be  said  of  those  having 
medicinal  properties,  and  of  use  in  the  arts.  Our 
fine  fabrics,  our  brilliant  dyes,  our  most  grateful 
perfumes,  come  in  a  large  proportion  from  this 
kingdom.  Here  have  been  found  those  wonderful 
modern-discovered  substances — India-Rubber  and 
Gutta-Percha.  How  long  these  and  other  valuable 
products  remained  unknown !  How  many  more  are 


104:  NATURAL    HISTORY 


to  be  discovered,  as  the  wants  of  men  demand  them, 
and  the  study  of  plants  is  more  thoroughly  and 
and  generally  pursued  !  To  investigate  the  laws  of 
that  department  of  nature  upon  which  all  animal 
life  depends,  is  certainly  an  imperative  duty.  But 
more  than  this,  for  our  present  purpose — we  see  this 
kingdom  the  channel  by  which  many  of  the  luxuries 
of  life  are  poured  in  upon  us,  and  the  only  source  of 
many  materials  necessary  to  the  present  state  of 
civilization.  The  fiber  which  clothes  us — upon 
which  we  print  our  books — the  gums  that  surround 
our  submarine  cables  and  take  a  thousand  forms  of 
usefulness,  are  already  sources  of  national  as  well  as 
individual  wealth.  To  increase  these  products  and 
ward  off  diseases  to  which  valuable  plants  are  liable, 
are  the  direct  results  of  thorough  scientific  investi- 
gations in  the  various  departments  of  Botany.  All 
our  knowledge  has  failed  to  arrest  the  blight  of  the 
potato;  but  all  feel  that  the  more  perfectly  we 
understand  vegetable  physiology,  and  all  the  habits 
of  particular  plants,  the  better  we  shall  be  prepared 
to  improve  them  in  quality,  to  increase  their 
quantity,  and  protect  them  from  injury.  Science 


AS  BELATED  TO  WEALTH.      105 


has  not  failed,  but  we  have  failed  for  the  want  of 
science.  As  we  bend  our  minds  to  patient  study 
and  careful  observation,  we  may  be  able  to  arrest 
disease  in  plants,  improve  those  already  useful  to 
man,  and  discover  valuable  properties  in  thousands 
now  apparently  useless.  Many  of  our  valuable 
fruits  were  once  entirely  useless  or  noxious.  That 
they  have  been  brought  to  perfection,  or  that  all 
those  capable  of  such  improvement  have  already 
been  pressed  into  the  service  of  man,  we  have  no 
reason  to  believe.  In  fact,  the  progress  made  every 
year,  and  especially  the  progress  made  the  last 
twenty  years,  gives  great  promise  for  the  future. 
This  rapid  progress  has  been  made  because  those 
engaged  in  Agriculture  and  Horticulture  have 
worked  by  the  light  of  science.  When  we  see 
beautiful  nurseries  and  gardens,  we  shall  find  in 
the  owner  or  keeper  the  knowledge  of  the  science 
for  which  we  are  here  contending.  If  they  have 
not  the  broad  principles,  we  shall  find  them  acting 
by  the  rules  of  some  broader  mind,  who  is  at  home 
with  Decandolle,  and  Lindley,  and  Lowdon,  and 
Gray.  We  can  hardly  overestimate  the  advantage 


106  NATURAL    HISTORY 


to  our  own  country,  if  all  our  young  men  who 
travel,  our  consuls  and  missionaries,  were  so  versed 
in  science  that  they  should  be  able  at  once  to  detect 
the  valuable  properties  of  plants  and  their  habits, 
that  all  capable  of  introduction  might  be  secured  at 
once.  A  single  plant  might  repay  for  all  the  time 
and  labor  of  every  American  student  in  this  depart- 
ment. But  if  men  are  never  trained,  they  do  not 
observe.  And  if  a  strange  plant  is  forced  upon 
their  attention,  they  know  so  little  that  they  can 
determine  nothing  of  the  prospect  of  improving  its 
qualities  by  cultivation,  or  even  of  cultivating  it  all. 
If  all  those  who  labor  among  plants,  and  have 
opportunities  of  introducing  new,  were  well  versed 
in  Botany  as  it  is  now  understood,  this  source  of 
wealth  would  be  vastly  increased  in  a  single  year. 
The  progress  would  be  rapid.  The  quality  would 
be  improved,  and  the  number  would  be  increased. 
Useful  plants  would  take  the  place  of  those  useless 
or  noxious.  Our  forests  would  be  better  preserved, 
and  new  forests  would  be  springing  up  on  rocky 
hills  and  neglected  swamps.  Millions  of  acres,  bar- 
ren and  dreary,  might  be  gradually  supplying  our 


AS    RELATED    TO    WEALTH.  107 


waste  of  trees,  if  men  would  learn  that  forests  can 
be  planted,  and  were  imbued  with  that  spirit  of 
improvement  and  care  for  coming  generations 
which  science  has  ever  had  a  tendency  to  produce. 

It  may  be  said,  with  truth,  that  much  of  the  work 
already  done-  has  been  done  by  those  ignorant  of 
science.  These  results  have  been  the  slow  accumu- 
lation of  ages ;  we  wish  now  more  rapid  progress. 
The  times  demand  it.  The  same  is  true  of  every 
department  of  human  industry  and  source  of  wealth. 
Discoveries  in  olden  time  were  accidental.  The 
Alchemists  in  the  dark  ages,  with  their  alembics 
and  crucibles  and  chemicals  of  mystic  names, 
worked  by  chance,  and  by  chance,  from  time  to 
time,  made  some  valuable  discoveries.  But  how 
different  is  the  work  of  a  modern  chemist!  A  thing 
is  to  be  done,  and  he  is  able  at  once  to  bring  to  bear 
upon  the  problem  all  the  principles  of  that  wonder- 
ful science.  Every  experiment  is  performed  for  a 
definite  purpose,  and  accidental  discovery  is  the 
exception  and  not  the  rule.  So  in  mechanics — a 
result  is  to  be  reached,  and  the  problem  is  attempt- 
ed by  well-established  principles.  Those  wonderful 


108  NATURAL    HISTORY 


looms  that  ply  their  iron  fingers  to  weave  our 
carpets  were  not  a  chance  discovery  by  Bigelow — 
they  were  an  invention,  reached  only  by  long- 
continued  systematic  study.  So  of  discoveries  and 
improvements  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  our  day. 
They  must  not  be  left  to  chance,  but  be  sought  for 
under  the  guidance  of  science,  where  alone  the 
course  is  direct,  the  progress  sure  and  rapid. 

Perhaps  Zoology  does  not  give  promise  of  so  rich 
a  return  as  Botany,  in  material  wealth.  We  do  not 
expect  to  discover  important  animals  for  domestica- 
tion, nor  do  we  expect  to  add  very  many  valuable 
animal  products  to  those  now  known,  by  the  discov- 
ery of  new  animals.  So  far  as  their  products  are 
rendered  more  useful  or  increased  in  number,  we 
shall  probably  be  indebted  to  Chemistry,  rather  than 
to  the  pure  science  of  Zoology.  But  there  are  im- 
portant indirect  advantages  that  may  result  from  it. 
The  study  of  the  structure  of  the  whale  renders  it 
highly  probable  that  there  is  an  open  polar  sea.  It 
is,  as  Professor  Agassiz  remarks,  perfectly  convin- 
cing to  the  physiologist ;  if  the  whales  in  winter  are 
not  all  south  of  the  frozen  belt,  they  must  find  open 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.       109 


water  beyond  at  the  north.  This  opinion  of  the 
learned  Zoologist  will  undoubtedly  stimulate  these 
explorations  until  that  problem  is  fully  solved.  If, 
then,  this  surmise  proves  to  be  correct,  and  the 
whale-fisheries  can  be  carried  on  successfully  in  that 
great  northern  ice-bound  field,  it  would  certainly  be 
a  remarkable  instance  of  the  indirect  benefits  of 
science.  We  may  be  asked  to  wait  until  the  dis- 
covery is  made.  We  only  refer  to  it  as  a  thing  so 
conclusive  that  action  may  reasonably  be  based 
upon  it,  and  the  grand  result  may  reasonably  be 
expected  to  follow.  "What  connection  would  there 
seem  to  be,  to  one  unacquainted  with  the  history 
and  bearings  of  all  science,  between  the  study  of 
a  whale  and  the  discovery  of  a  northern  sea,  and 
the  establishment  of  productive  fisheries  ?  Whether 
this  may  be  realized  or  not,  such  are  the  constant 
results  of  science,  from  subjects  that  in  the  begin- 
ning gave  promise  of  nothing  but  the  gratification 
of  curiosity. 

The  study  of  the  habits  of  fish  will  enable  us  to 
protect  them,  by  law,  from  those  methods  and  times 

of  capture  which  prove  destructive  to   large  num- 

10 


110  NATURAL    HISTORY 


bers  without  any  adequate  return.  It  gives  us  also 
t)ie  prospect  of  being  able  to  stock  our  lakes  and 
streams  with,  valuable  fish,  as  easily  as  we  can  sup- 
ply our  farms  with  flocks,  and  to  much  more  profit. 
The  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  those  who  have 
sneered  at  the  study  of  "  eels  and  mudpouts,"  and 
have  made  speeches  on  economy  when  States  have 
appropriated  money  for  this  purpose,  may  find  that 
there  are  some  things  not  dreamed  of  in  their  phi- 
losophy, and  that  money  can  be  made  where  they 
never  suspected  it. 

The  study  of  the  beautiful  birds  and  the  hideous 
reptiles  has  corrected  many  false  notions,  and  shown 
that  the  former,  at  least,  are  a  flying  guard  for  the 
protection  of  our  fields  and  gardens.  We  are  glad 
to  invite  their  aid,  and  divide  our  delicious  fruit 
with  them,  that  we  may  save  the  remaining  half 
from  the  insects.  Even  the  crow,  despised  and  per- 
secuted as  he  is,  is  found  to  pay  wrell  for  the  few 
grains  of  corn  he  may  steal.  We  come  by  careful 
study  of  all  these  classes  of  animals  to  learn  their 
true  place— to  learn  the  use  we  can  make  of  each  of 
them — the  methods  of  protecting  the  useful  and  of 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      Ill 


guarding  against  the  injurious.  The  money  value 
that  comes  from  such  a  knowledge  amounts,  in  our 
own  country,  to  millions  in  a  year,  and  what  it  might 
be  to  the  whole  world  is  beyond  computation.  And 
this  knowledge  is  every  year  becoming  of  more  im- 
portance. We  can  not,  perhaps,  select  a  better  ex- 
ample for  the  perfect  illustration  of  what  I  mean 
than  insects.  Men,  who  pride  themselves  upon  their 
wisdom  and  common-sense,  and  pecuniary  shrewd- 
ness, generally  regard  Entomology  as  a  very  ridicu- 
lous subject ;  they  have  never  attended  to  it,  in- 
deed it  would  be  the  last  thing  they  would  think  of 
doing.  To  see  a  man  catching  bugs  and  butterflies 
is,  to  them,  more  senseless  than  studying  frogs  and 
sticklebacks,  if  possible.  Let  us,  however,  stop  a 
moment,  and  inquire  what  this  busy  tribe  produce 
and  destroy  in  a  single  year.  Of  their  productions, 
we  may  mention  the  silks,  the  wax,  the  honey,  the 
lac-gums  and  dyes,  the  nut-galls  and  cochineal. 
How  many  millions  of  dollars,  think  you,  would 
purchase  all  these  products  for  a  single  year?  To 
narrow  the  question,  how  many  millions  would  buy 
those  imported  into  this  country,  and  those  produced 


112  NATURAL    HISTORY 


here,  for  a  single  year  ?  We  should  hardly  be  will- 
ing to  give  up  our  portion  of  these  products. 
There  are  many  others  that  we  could  better  spare, 
so  far  as  comfort  and  ornament  are  concerned. 
They  constitute  an  important  item  among  the  ne- 
cessaries and  luxuries  of  life.  Now  it  can  hardly  be 
doubted,  that  study  of  this  department  of  nature 
would  tend  to  increase  the  quantity  of  these  prod- 
ucts, and  in  some  cases  improve  their  quality,  and 
that  others  of  importance  may  be  discovered.  This 
view,  alone,  would  certainly  remove  Entomology 
from  the  rank  of  useless  and  merely  curious  studies, 
to  one  having  important  bearing  upon  comfort  and 
health. 

But  insects  are  also  destroyers,  and  this  to  an 
alarming  degree,  and  their  ravages  in  our  country 
are  yearly  increasing.  It  was  some  time  since  found 
that  their  injury  to  the  crops,  in  this  country, 
amounted  to  more  than  twenty  millions  of  dollars  a 
year.  I  think  the  same  report  made  the  remark^ 
that,  if  a  foreign  nation  should  injure  us  the  twen- 
tieth part  of  this  sum,  for  a  single  year,  our  army 
and  navy  would  be  called  into  requisition  to  de- 


AS    BELATED    TO    WEALTH.  113 


mand  and  obtain  satisfaction.  "We  should  all  sus- 
tain the  action — but  we  sneer  at  bird-laws,  allow 
insectivorous  birds  to  be  destroyed  for  sport,  and 
regard  those  who  study  insects  as  foolishly  em- 
ployed. It  is  by  the  labors  of  Harris,  and  such  ob- 
servers of  this  hungry,  numerous  host,  that  we  can 
drag  them  from  their  lurking-places,  know  them 
under  all  their  disguises,  destroy  the  injurious  by 
taking  advantage  of  their  own  instincts,  and  spare 
those  that  are  useful  by  preying  upon  others.  Birds 
are  our  natural  protectors  from  this  foe.  But  the 
broad  acres  of  cultivation  have  increased  faster  than 
the  birds.  Our  only  help  is  science — the  study  of 
their  whole  Natural  History.  This  will  save  for  us 
millions  in  a  single  year.  In  some  parts  of  our 
country  the  struggle  is  now  really  a  desperate  one — 
many  choice  products  are  preserved  only  by  con- 
tinual warfare.  And  to  maintain  our  ground,  we 
need  the  aid  of  every  entomologist  in  the  land. 
The  labors  of  such  a  man  as  Harris  are  worth  many 
fortunes  every  year. 

"We  are  all  ready  to  acknowledge  that  Agricul- 
ture is  the  grand  source  of  national  wealth.     It  is 

10* 


NATU  RAL    HISTORY 

an  evil  day  for  any  country,  when  this  calling  falls 
into  disrepute,  or  is  neglected  for  other  more  alluring 
and  perhaps  quicker  sources  of  wealth.  We  have 
already  indicated  how  the  study  of  Natural  History 
lends  important  aid  to  this  branch  of  industry,  by 
introducing  new  plants,  and  giving  more  perfect 
knowledge  of  their  habits,  the  methods  of  improv- 
ing their  quality,  and  of  protecting  them  from 
injury.  But  were  this  all,  it  could  not  give  it  that 
dignity  and  success  which  we  believe  it  now  con- 
fers. It  is  fashionable  to  laud  farming,  but  facts 
seem  to  indicate  that  for  some  years  past  it  has  been 
unfashionable  to  engage  in  it,  where  men  must 
labor  with  their  own  hands.  It  is  not  the  labor  that 
has  driven  them  from  the  field,  for  they  have  left  it 
oftentimes  for  more  laborious  and  exhausting  pur- 
suits. Go  through  that  large  portion  of  our  country 
where  those  who  live  by  cultivating  the  soil  must 
labor  with  their  own  hands,  and  inquire  in  every 
family  what  business  they  intend  for  their  sons,  and 
you  will  find  farming  to  be  the  exception  and  not 
the  rule.  One  is  intended  for  some  trade,  another 
for  the  counting-room — another  for  Law  or  Medi- 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      115 


cine — another  is  sent  to  college,  trusting  to  chance 
to  direct  to  some  subsequent  employment.  And 
should  he  choose  to  be  a  farmer,  his  parents  and 
neighbors  would  most  likely  consider  his  college 
education  as  thrown  away.  By  our  words,  then,  we 
praise  Agriculture,  and  by  our  practice  we  condemn 
it — brand  it.  And  for  both  we  think  a  satisfactory 
answer  can  be  given.  Agriculture  ought  to  be  the 
high,  noble,  and  honorable  employment  which  it  is 
represented  as  being  in  our  agricultural  addresses. 
It  deserves  to  be,  and  might  be ;  but  then  the 
question  at  once  arises — if  it  is,  why  is  it  that  almost 
all  men,  even  farmers  themselves,  are  so  anxious  to 
secure  other  business  for  their  sons  ?  "We  are 
constantly  affirming  that  Fanning  is  as  honorable  as 
Law  or  Medicine,  and  yet  it  seems  hard  to  make 
the  world  believe  what  they  are  constantly  assert- 
ing ;  for  there  are  but  few  farmers  who  would  not 
rather  see  their  sons  eminent  doctors  and  lawyers 
than  good  farmers.  This  ought  not  so  to  be — for 
tilling  the  soil  is  undoubtedly  a  natural  occupation, 
and  therefore  ought  to  be  made  desirable.  It  is 
well  for  us  to  look  for  the  evil,  and  correct  it.  The 


116  NATURAL    HISTORY 


low  estimate  of  Agriculture  is  undoubtedly  due  to 
this  fact,  that  less  thought  and  study  have  thus  far 
been  needed  in  this  than  in  most  other  pursuits. 
The  prospect  of  making  money  will  alone  induce 
many  to  engage  in  certain  pursuits  for  a  time.  But 
look  over  the  pursuits  which  men  engage  in  for  life, 
and  you  will  find,  as  a  general  rule,  that  the  thought 
required  to  carry  on  a  pursuit  is  the  measure  of  its 
dignity,  and  the  index  of  the  class  of  persons  who 
will  engage  in  it.  Men  of  learning  and  thought 
and  refinement,  can  never  be  induced  to  engage  in 
any  work  that  can  as  well  be  carried  on  by  men 
"who  never  had  a  dozen  thoughts  in  all  their  lives." 
If  a  railroad  is  to  be  built,  the  engineers  will  labor 
hard  to  make  the  surveys  and  measure  the  grade, 
because  that  requires  thought;  but  they  will  not 
shovel  sand  for  the  same  price,  because  that  can  be 
done  as  well  by  the  unlettered  Irishman. 

All  labor  becomes  honorable  and  dignified  just 
in  proportion  to  the  intellect,  the  thought,  and  study 
required  to  carry  it  on.  These  render  base  things 
noble.  Ci  The  chemist's  and  geologist's  soiled  hands 
are  signs  of  no  base  work ;  the  coarsest  work  of  the 


AS  BELATED  TO  WEALTH.      117 


laboratory,  the  breaking  of  stones  with  a  hammer, 
cease  to  be  mechanical  or  ignoble,  because  intellec- 
tual thought  and  principle  govern  the  mind  and 
guide  the  hands."  According  to  this  principle,  to 
which,  we  believe,  all  will  assent,  every  source  of 
study  and  thought  which  we  can  connect  with 
agriculture  will  give  it  dignity  and  attractiveness. 
And  just  in  proportion  as  these  are  wanting  will 
men  relinquish  it,  if  possible,  as  they  become 
intellectual  and  refined.  We  have  only  to  make 
agriculture  require  as  much  thought  as  the  learned 
professions,  and  men  will  need  no  panegyrics  from 
agricultural  orators  to  induce  them  to  forsake  the 
counting-room  and  office  for  life  in  the  open  air. 
Nothing  can  produce  this  desired  result  like  the 
study  of  Natural  History.  Perhaps  we  ought  to 
add  Chemistry.  But  this  requires  such  skillful 
manipulations  that  it  must  be  confined  mainly  to  a 
few  who  make  it  a  profession.  But  not  so  with 
Natural  History.  Every  portion  of  it  can  be  made 
practical  and  of  interest.  Agriculture  is  Natural 
History  applied.  Geology,  Botany,  and  Zoology 
are  its  basis,  and  in  proportion  as  these  are  under- 


118  NATURAL    HISTORY 


stood,  will  there  be  success.  It  is  because  these 
sciences  are  the  basis  of  Agriculture  that  men  have 
theoretically  considered  it  noble ;  it  is  because  it  has 
to  a  great  extent  ignored  these  sciences,  its  true 
basis,  and  become  a  changeless  routine,  that  it  has 
practically  been  considered  base.  When  the  farmer 
studies  the  minerals  of  which  his  soil  is  composed, 
the  plants  that  spring  up  around  him,  the  insects 
that  destroy — when  he  learns  to  study  all  the 
objects  which  abound  on  every  hill-side  and  valley 
— farming  will  be  a  science  that  will  daily  awaken 
thought,  a  pursuit  in  which  mind  can  develop,  and 
then  it  will  not  only  be  among  the  most  honorable, 
but  the  most  honored  of  secular  professions.  Just 
in  proportion  as  it  takes  this  place  does  it  rise  in 
dignity,  and  call  men  of  culture  from  other  pursuits 
to  this. 

So  far,  then,  as  we  look  to  the  improvement  of 
agriculture  in  all  its  departments  as  a  source  of 
wealth, — and  all  acknowledge  it  to  be  the  most 
important — in  fact,  the  only  sure  basis, — -just  so  far 
do  we  acknowledge  the  relations  of  Natural  History 
to  wealth,  and  make  apparent  the  need  of  study  in 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      119 


every  department  of  this  division  of  science.  "  All 
men  will  encourage  those  departments  which  will 
bring  money  at  once.  But  we  see  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing  is  needed:  it  is  to  make  every  plant, 
and  bird,  and  insect,  every  object  of  Natural 
History,  a  subject  of  thought — that  the  field  may  be 
a  place  of  intellectual  as  well  as  of  bodily  activity. 
This  may  be  thought  impossible,  but  it  is  not.  "We 
here  see  the  need  of  certain  kinds  of  information 
which  some  undervalue.  When  our  agricultural 
reports  give  the  Natural  History  of  an  insect,  the 
picture  of  a  bird,  or  a  snake,  a  grass,  or  a  sedge,  it 
is  often  a  better  work  than  reports  on  wheat  or 
stock,  however  valuable  they  may  be.  These 
objects,  from  the  forest  and  the  river,  turn  the 
thoughts  into  a  new  channel,  and  waken  powers 
of  observation,  that,  but  for  them,  might  ever  have 
remained  dormant.  Much  work  of  this  kind  done 
by  our  national  and  state  governments,  that  has 
been  hastily,  though  undoubtedly  honestly  con- 
demned, has  its  value.  What  use  of  describing 
fossil  shells,  in  boundary  surveys  ?  grasses  and  birds 
in  astronomical  expeditions,  or  corals  in  the  coast 


120  NATURAL    HISTORY 


survey  ?  many  are  ready  to  ask — as  though  it  were 
a  waste  of  money,  or  at  least  a  poor  return  for  it. 
But  go  through  our  country,  and  see  such  books 
studied  by  thousands  of  the  young,  who  but  for 
them  would  have  never  had  a  thought  awakened 
respecting  such  objects,  and  we  shall  be  satisfied 
that  they  are  no  waste — no  mere  gratification  of 
scientific  men — but  the  educators  of  thousands,  and 
will,  in  the  end,  not  only  elevate,  but  return  far 
more  than  their  money  value. 

In  this  view  of  the  subject  which  we  have  pre- 
sented, that  thought  dignifies  labor,  we  see  why 
farming  was  more  honorable  among  the  ancients 
than  among  the  moderns.  They  honored  it  practi- 
cally, while  we  profess  to  do  so.  "We  think  the  reason 
is  at  once  apparent,  and  illustrative  of  our  position, 
when  we  compare  farming  with  the  other  pursuits 
of  those  times.  It  came  nearer  to  the  learned  profes- 
sions than  it  now  does.  When  we  consider  the  state 
of  the  other  sciences,  and  see  also  the  knowledge 
of  Agriculture  displayed  in  the  works  of  Yirgil 
and  Cato,  we  find  it  to  be  the  science  of  those  times. 
It  was  not  pursued  by  the  learned  and  brave  of  those 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      121 


days  merely  as  a  matter  of  profit,  but  because  they 
found  in  it  the  best  sphere  of  refined  and  intellect- 
ual pleasures.  Thus,  when  Cicero  introduces  Cato 
in  his  De  Senectute,  he  causes  him  to  say  that  he 
cultivates  the  earth  not  only  as  a  matter  of  duty,  ' 
because  it  is  beneficial  to  the  whole  human  race, 
but  because  it  is  a  source  of  delight.  He  is  de- 
lighted with  that  secret  power  which,  from  the  mi- 
nute seed  brings  up  the  tall  trunk  and  wide-spread 
branches.  The  preparation  of  soils,  the  pruning 
and  grafting,  are  to  him  sources  of  pleasure,  and  are 
deemed  honorable  employment  for  kings  them- 
selves. We  need  only  raise  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  to  its  former  comparative  position  with  the 
learned  professions,  to  make  it  as  highly  esteemed. 
This  can  never  be  done  by  praises  at  every  agricul- 
tural fair,  but  it  can  be  done  by  encouraging  every 
department  of  Natural  History,  until  they  shall 
make  it  as  fine  a  field  for  intellectual  enjoyment  as 
either  of  the  learned  professions.  What  is  now  a 
mere  drudgery  might  become  a  delightful  employ- 
ment, and  the  labor  receive  a  more  certain  and 

abundant  reward. 

11 


122  NATURAL    HISTORY 


We  increase  wealth,  when  we  change  to  means  of 
enjoyment  what  had  before  been  useless.  Our  hills 
may  be  filled  with  riches,  but  if  we  can  not  recog- 
nize the  precious  ore,  we  are  as  poor  as  though  it 
were  pebble-stones.  The  blind  man  is  unmoved  by 
the  beauty  of  his  landscapes — they  might  as  well  be 
rough  and  dreary  as  beautiful.  The  deaf  man  is 
none  the  happier  for  sweet  sounds,  that  others 
would  pay  lavishly  to  hear.  A  cultivated  taste  dis- 
covers sources  of  enjoyment  where  the  unrefined 
would  be  like  the  blind  man  among  pictures,  and 
the  deaf  among  music.  The  connection  of  Taste 
with  Natural  History  we  have  already  discussed. 
It  is  able  to  throw  around  even  the  poor  man  more 
means  of  enjoyment  than  wealth  can  purchase  for 
the  uneducated  and  unrefined.  If  every  young 
man  would  acquire  such  a  taste  for  these  studies, 
such  a  love  for  the  beautiful  that,  by  his  labor  or 
direction,  a  single  acre  of  ground  should  be  ren- 
dered more  productive  or  attractive,  what  an  advan- 
tage to  himself  and  the  world !  It  is  a  great  ac- 
quirement to  be  able  even  to  rightly  appreciate  and 
enjoy  the  labors  of  others.  The  lover  of  Nature's 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH,      123 


beauties  owns  property  in  every  landscape  that  his 
eye  rests  upon — oftentimes  more  than  he  who  holds 
the  title-deeds. 

Give  to  the  true  lover  of  Nature  a  hard,  rugged  soil, 
and  he  will  know  how  to  make  even  that  attractive. 
He  studies  every  object.  He  knows  upon  what  the 
pleasing  effect  depends.  It  may  be  a  single  tree,  or 
a  single  copse,  which  the  thoughtless  world  never 
think  of  sparing.  His  home  may  be  poor,  but  it 
will  have  the  best  location,  and  it  will  have  expres- 
sion— not  a  mere  roofed  box  for  shedding  rain, 
without  proportion,  without  the  first  element  of 
beauty,  so  devoid  of  taste  that  every  ornament 
makes  it  more  unpleasing.  To  most  of  us,  our 
homes  are  our  wealth.  "We  seek  for  money  that  we 
may  throw  around  us  objects  of  beauty  and  make 
our  homes  places  of  enjoyment  worthy  of  a  civil- 
ized and  cultivated  people.  Nothing  is  plainer  than 
that  some  people,  almost  without  money,  succeed  in 
this,  while  others,  whose  checks  are  readily  hon- 
ored by  their  bankers,  entirely  fail.  They  have  the 
money,  but  are  entirely  unable  to  purchase  the 
same  means  of  enjoyment  that  the  poor  man  has 


124  NATURAL    HISTORY 


always  within  his  reach,  who  is  able  to  select  the 
beautiful  objects  which  nature  presents,  even  in 
the  least-favored  locality.  Look  at  two  homes  of 
men  of  equal  means.  One  tasteful  in  form  and 
beautiful  in  location — its  shaded  walks,  and  every 
useful  tree,  and  shrub,  and  plant,  arranged  with 
regard  to  beauty ;  every  natural  defect  of  land- 
scape is  softened,  every  beauty  heightened.  The 
other  is  placed  by  chance,  without  symmetry  or  pro- 
portion ;  no  plant  of  beauty  is  spared,  and  in  all  the 
surroundings  not  a  single  thought  displayed  that 
any  natural  object  has  beauty.  The  owner  may  be 
conscious  that  his  neighbor  has  a  great  advantage, 
but  thinks  it  his  fortune,  and  no  morq  thinks  that 
he  can  secure  the  same  for  himself,  than  that  he 
could  dig  from  the  earth  hidden  coffers  of  wealth. 
He  knows  there  is  beauty,  he  hears  it  repeated  by 
every  passer-by ;  but  he  can  not  put  forth  his  hand 
and  secure  it  for  himself,  though  the  material  sur- 
round him  on  every  side,  simply  because  his  mind 
has  never  been  trained  to  perceive  the  beauty  of 
separate  natural  objects.  He  is  aware  of  it  only 
when  they  are  grouped  by  others;  and  then,  per- 


AS  RELATED  TO  WEALTH.      125 


haps,  he  despises  them,  or  at  least  undervalues  them, 
because  he  is  as  blind  to  their  beauty  as  the  eye  that 
never  saw  light.  Who  can  compare  the  worth  of 
these  homes  as  places  of  rational  enjoyment,  or  the 
capacities  of  their  owners  to  enjoy  ?  The  man  of 
taste  may  not  have  struck  a  blow  harder  nor  more 
frequent  than  his  neighbor,  but  he  has  had  unnum- 
bered sources  of  enjoyment  the  other  had  no  power 
to  avail  himself  of ;  and  now  the  tasteful  home 
finds  ready  buyers  at  liberal  prices,  while  on  the 
other  land  the  buildings  are  considered  rather  as 
an  incumbrance,  and  the  soil  as  stripped  even  of 
the  materials  of  improvement  which  Nature  almost 
everywhere  scatters  on  land  untouched  by  man. 
The  worth  of  our  homes  must  depend  mainly  upon 
the  beautiful  objects  of  nature  that  we  can  throw 
around  them — -at  least  this  must  be  true  of  those 
whose  wealth  is  not  abundant.  These  objects  can 
only  be  selected  and  appreciated  by  that  training 
of  the  senses,  and  those  ideas  of  the  beautiful,  which 

Natural  History  studies  alone  can  fully  secure. 

11* 


126  NATURAL    HISTORY 


LECTUKE    IV. 

NATURAL  HISTORY  AS  RELATED  TO  RELIGION. 

"WHEN  the  oak  spreads  its  sturdy  branches,  and 
strikes  its  roots  deeper  among  the  cliffs  of  the  moun- 
tain, there  is  one  work  to  which  all  its  changes  are 
preparatory,  and  this  is  the  production  of  fruit.  In 
the  whole  vegetable  kingdom,  with  all  its  varied 
beauty,  every  force  and  every  change  is  subservient 
to  this  higher  work.  The  architect  also  lays  his 
foundation,  but  it  is  only  that  he  may  build  upon  it. 
So  God  has  broken  up  the  crust  of  this  globe,  and 
covered  it  with  a  succession  of  living  forms,  but  it 
was  only  that  he  might  thus  the  better  fit  it  as  a 
dwelling-place  for  rational  man.  To  man  He  has 
given  an  intellectual  and  an  emotional  nature,  but 
it  is  only  as  a  condition  for  that  higher  religious 
nature,  in  which  man  approaches  most  nearly  the 
perfect  image  of  God.  All  nature  is  indeed  made  to 
minister  to  the  physical  enjoyment  of  man,  but  the 
wonderful  plan  of  its  frame-work  is  a  fit  counterpart 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  127 


of  his  intellectual  nature.  Its  beauty  of  adorning, 
its  grandeur  and  sublimity,  are  the  visible  heaven  of 
his  emotional  nature.  But  its  highest  adaptation, 
and  that  to  which  all  others  are  subservient,  is  to 
man  as  a  religious  being.  So  complete  is  it  in  this 
respect — so  fully  is  a  God,  and  a  God  for  worship, 
shown  in  even  the  humblest  plant  that  clothes  the 
eartli — that,  to  the  sincere  inquirer, 

"  This  world. . .  .becomes  a  temple, 
And  life  itself  one  continued  act  of  adoration." 

On  the  common  argument  from  special  adaptation 
for  the  existence  of  a  God  it  is  not  necessary  to 
enlarge,  because  it  has  been  so  fully  presented  by 
the  ablest  writers  that  it  is  probably  familiar  to  all. 
So  far  as  we  attempt  it,  of  course  we  shall  confine 
ourselves  to  Natural  History  illustrations;  and  we 
do  not  shorten  the  argument  from  any  want  of 
materials,  for  they  are  abundant — sufficient  to 
present  that  argument  in  its  full  force.  Some  have 
considered  this  proof  from  natural  objects  unsatisfac- 
tory ;  but  on  this  point  we  may  say,  that  however 
philosophers  may  speculate,  there  is  in  Natural 


128  NATURAL    HISTOEY 


History 'a  general  harmony,  such  as  ancient  philoso- 
phers saw  in  other  departments  of  nature,  and  regard- 
ed as  proof  of  an  intelligent  author ;  and  to  the  com- 
mon mind  the  argument  from  special  adaptation 
will  always  be  convincing — far  more  so  than  those 
higher  speculations  and  proofs  from  our  mental 
constitution.  So  long  as  men  can  observe  Mature 
more  easily  than  they  can  study  their  own  minds, 
so  long  will  they  be  more  convinced  by  the  general 
argument,  as  presented  by  Paley,  than  by  the 
intellectual  and  moral  nature  of  man,  which  some 
consider  the  only  proof  of  a  personal  God.  There 
is,  to  say  the  least,  a  charm  about  the  argument,  and 
it  seems  to  us  to  have  force.  When  we  see  special 
adaptations,  not  occurring  once  merely,  nor  in  one 
kingdom,  but  in  hundreds  of  instances — adaptations 
that  we  might  never  have  thought  of,  but  acknowl- 
edge to  be  worthy  of  the  greatest  genius — the 
mind  goes  up  to  a  personal  God.  The  mental 
philosopher  may  stand  there  and  utter  his  warning, 
he  may  say  that  the  whole  argument  is  a  begging 
of  the  question  ;  the  answer  practically  will  be  this 
— "There  are  in  nature  adaptations  worthy  of  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION".  129 


highest  powers  that  we  attribute  to  a  person — their 
number  is  so  great  as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  chance 
— there  is,  therefore,  a  person — a  personal  God." 
Take  from  the  animal  kingdom  a  single  illustration. 
The  honey-bee,  the  wasp,  and  the  hornet,  build 
geometrical  six-sided  cells.  This  form  is  best  fitted 
for  their  purpose — they  necessarily  build  them  in 
this  way,  either  compelled  to  it  by  their  organiza- 
tion or  instinct ;  for  our  argument  we  care  not 
which.  These  three  tribes  go  on  building  the  same 
way  forever.  Now,  how  came  that  geometrical 
form  to  be  selected  for  those  three  insects?  By 
whom  was  it  done?  Only  one  answer  can  be  given 
— by  a  being  capable  of  considering  all  possible 
geometrical  forms  in  the  abstract,  and  of  selecting 
from  all  possible  forms  one  best  fitted  for  these 
three  tribes  of  insects.  No  one  will  pretend  that 
these  insects  were  from  the  same  stock,  and  thus 
account  for  the  common  form  of  their  cells.  The 
materials  are  varied.  By  the  bee  the  form  is 
produced  in  wax  secreted  beneath  the  rings  of  the 
body,  by  the  others  in  paper,  formed  of  the  woody 
fiber  of  our  fence-posts  and  door-sills ;  but  when  we 


130  NATUEAL    HISTORY   . 


direct  our  attention  to  the  form,  we  see  evidence  of 
the  highest  intellectual  power  in  considering  ab- 
stract geometrical  relations.  Such  arguments  can 
be  repeated  almost  without  limit,  and  if  there  is 
failure  to  convince,  it  seems  to  arise  from  the  defect 
in  the  method  of  studying  the  proof,  rather  than 
from  its  nature.  If  asked,  then,  why  this  argument 
from  adaptation  has  not  been  more  convincing,  we 
answer,  it  has  not  generally  been  studied  in  the 
right  way.  It  has  been  studied  in  I}o6ks  rather  than 
in  the  field.  The  effect  of  this  we  shall  notice 
farther  on. 

We  are  inclined  to  reverse  the  order  of  the  argu- 
ment presented  by  Paley,  and  give  the  vegetable 
kingdom  precedence — make  it  the  strongest  link  in 
the  grand  chain  of  proof.  He  remarks  that  ua 
designed  and  studied  mechanism  is  in  general  more 
evident  in  animals  than  in  plants,  and  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  dwell  upon  a  weaker  argument  when  a 
stronger  is  at  hand."  There  are  many  points  of  the 
whole  subject  that  have  changed  their  relative 
importance,  in  fact  their  whole  bearing,  since  his 
day.  The  unity  of  plan  in  the  whole  vegetable  and 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  131 


animal  kingdom,  so  fully  brought  out  since  his  time, 
has  to  many  a  stronger  bearing  than  all  the  special 
adaptations  so  clearly  presented  by  him.  His  first 
sentence,  "  That  if  in  crossing  a  heath  (suppose)  he 
pitched  his  foot  against  a  stone,  and  were  asked 
how  it  came  to  be  there,  he  might  possibly  an- 
swer that,  for  any  thing  he  knew  to  the  contrary,  it 
had  lain  there  forever,"  is  a  landmark  in  science, 
and  shows  the  wonderful  changes  since  his  time. 
That  same  pebble  would  bring  to  the  mind  now  the 
vast  forces  that  have  spent  their  fury  on  the  crust 
of  our  earth — all  that  war  of  the  elements  by  which 
the  earth  was  fitted  for  our  dwelling-place—all  the 
movements  of  that  vast  plan  which  has  been 
moving  on  for  countless  ages,  when  no  eye  but  that 
of  God  looked  upon  the  scene ;  of  which  no  record 
is  left,  but  that  engraven  upon  the  hills,  and  scat- 
tered with  the  pebbles, — in  Paley's  day  an  un- 
known language,  now  rendered  vocal  by  the  light  of 
science,  as  the  statue  of  Memnon  gave  forth  sweet 
sounds  of  music  when  lighted  by  the  rays  of  the 
rising  sun. 

In  the  vegetable  kingdom  we  see  special  adapta- 


132  NATURAL    HISTORY 


tions,  prospective  contrivances,  and  yet  there  is  no 
thought,  no  instinct  even,  to  guide.  The  dreaming 
philosopher  might  talk  of  feet  becoming  webbed  by 
attempts  to  swim — of  wonderful  changes  produced 
in  ages  by  the  law  of  progressive  development. 
The  followers  of  Oken  and  Lamark,  without  the 
science  of  their  masters,  may  believe  that  their 
ancestors  were  fish,  and  that  they  are  not  them- 
selves denizens  of  the  deep  because  some  enter- 
prising member  of  the  family  floundered  out  of  the 
water  and  forgot  to  return ;  but  even  this  accomo- 
dating  theory  will  give  no  explanation  of  all  the 
wonderful  adaptations  of  parts  by  which  individual 
life  is  carried  on,  and  the  species  propagated,  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom.  The  monad,  by  its  desires,  may 
be  fancied  to  pass  through  the  varying  stages  of 
oyster,  fish,  and  ape,  up  to  man  himself;  but  that 
the  one-celled  plant  of  our  northern  snow,  or  those 
that  abound  in  our  pools,  should  suddenly  become 
ambitious,  and  be  satisfied  only  by  spreading  like 
the  oak  or  blooming  like  the  roses,  is  a  far  more 
difficult  problem  for  their  accomodating  philosophy. 
Did  you  ever  look  into  a  single  flower,  the  lily 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  133 


or  the  rose,  to  see  there  the  wonderful  machinery 
fitted  for  a  specific  work,  the  production  of  the 
seed  ?  In  the  center  of  the  flower,  completely  sur- 
rounded, secured  from  danger,  are  the  first  sketches 
of  seeds — now  mere  points,  but  each  one  fitted  to 
receive  an  independent  life.  It  has  not  yet  come, 
but  the  home  is  prepared  for  its  reception.  And 
now  another  portion  of  the  flower,  the  trembling 
stamens,  that  seem  tipped  with  golden  points  to 
draw  down  the  spark  of  life  from  heaven,  give  out 
the  gathered  force  locked  in  the  floating,  dust-like 
grains  of  pollen.  They  strike  the  central  organ, 
and,  as  though  drawn  by  an  invisible  power,  thread 
their  way  down  long  tubes  and  touch  each  seed 
with  the  fire  of  independent  life.  The  seed,  no 
longer  a  mere  cell  without  life,  now  asserts  its  dig- 
nity, and  the  parent  plant,  as  though  conscious  of 
its  precious  treasures,  gathers  with  every  power  the 
materials  needed  for  the  future  growth  of  the  young, 
now  cradled  in  the  flower.  And  around  that  germ 
of  life  the  tree  collects  of  its  richest  products  the 
salts,  the  starch,  and  the  sugar  which  form  the  bulk 
of  the  fully  developed  seed,  making  it  a  store-house 

12 


134  NATURAL    HISTORY 


of  food  sufficient  for  that  germ  when  thrown  from 
the  parent  stock,  till  it  shall  put  forth  roots  and 
leaves,  and  be  able  to  compel  the  earth  and  air  to 
minister  to  its  wants.  And  when  the  acorn  drops, 
or  the  grape-seed  matures,  what  can  you  see,  with 
the  aid  of  your  keenest  scalpel  and  most  perfect 
glasses,  that  shall  show  you  that  the  work  is  com- 
pleted, without  a  single  mistake,  in  all  the  countless 
myriads  that  fall  in  every  valley  and  on  every 
mountain-side?  But  in  one  is  a  force  lodged  that 
shall  send  up  the  stout  trunk,  spread  its  branches, 
expand  its  leaves,  and  produce  its  fruit,  a  perfect 
oak,  and  from  the  other  shall  come  up  the  leaning 
stem  to  climb  the  oak  with  loving  tendrils,  spread 
its  thick  foliage  among  its  branches,  and  mingle  its 
rich  clusters  of  purple  with  the  humble  russet  of  the 
acorn  in  its  cup. 

Or  go  with  me  to  the  field,  and  watch  the  setting 
of  the  golden  rows  of  corn.  From  the  shaking  tas- 
sel falls  in  every  breeze  a  shower  of  vital  dust,  and 
from  the  center  of  the  husky  ear  each  half-formed 
kernel  throws  out  its  line  of  silk  to  catch  the  float- 
ing cells  of  life.  And  as  it  gathers  in  its  portion 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  135 


the  grain  begins  to  swell,  to  gather  richness  from 
the  parent  stalk,  till  it  gleams  in  southern  fields 
with  the  softness  of  the  pearl,  and  in  the  north  with 
the  yellow  of  the  topaz  and  gold.  ~No  parent,  with 
the  wisdom  of  man,  can  more  perfectly  provide  for 
its  young,  than  the  trees  of  our  forests  and  the 
grasses  of  our  fields  for  the  young  plant  in  every 
seed  they  mature.  If  by  chance  the  grain  of  pollen 
fails  to  reach  the  seed,  no  germ  of  life  is  there,  no 
food  is  needed  and  none  is  garnered  up;  the  tree 
never  mistakes  and  collects  food  where  its  own 
young  is  not  present  to  feed  upon  it. 

And  when  the  seed  is  formed  there  is  still 
another  care,  that  it  may  find  its  proper  place  of 
growth;  the  means  are  fitted  to  the  need  of  the 
plant.  To  one  seed  are  given  wings  that  it  may  fly 
away,  the  crane's-bill  scatters  its  seed  with  a  curi- 
ous spring,  the  thistle  rises  on  its  fringed  balloon, 
and  others  cling  to  every  passer-by  and  thus  are 
scattered  over  the  earth.  And  when  that  seed  has 
germinated,  every  leaf  has  a  thousand  mouths  to 
drink  in  the  gases  from  the  air,  a  thousand  points 
below  the  surface  of  the  earth  to  gather  materials 


136  NATURAL    HISTORY 


there.  Every  breeze  that  moves  its  leaves  feeds  it, 
the  rocks  crumble  beneath  to  give  it  strength.  And 
as  it  rises,  every  change  shows  its  adaptations  to  all 
the  forces  that  surround  it. 

Go  through  our  northern  forests  and  look  at  the 
broad-leaved  trees — the  maple,  oak,  and  elm.  In 
summer  they  are  filled  with  foliage,  on  some  of  the 
largest  are  acres  of  foliage.  Now  look  at  their 
spreading  and  dividing  limbs.  Did  they  hold  their 
leaves,  a  single  winter's  snow  would  split  their 
branches  from  the  trunks,  destroy  their  beauty,  and 
in  the  end  they  must  perish.  But  the  first  frost  of 
autumn  paints  the  green  leaves  with  gorgeous  col- 
ors, and  the  autumn  winds  shake  them  from  the 
trees,  that  their  naked  limbs  may  be  presented  to 
the  frosts  and  ice  and  winds  of  winter.  In  sum- 
mer, they  must  have  the  broad  leaves  to  drink  in 
gases  from  the  air ;  in  their  winter's  rest  they 
would  prove  their  destruction,  and  they  shake  them 
off,  and  not  a  single  broad-leaved  tree,  in  our  north- 
ern climes,  holds  its  foliage  in  the  winter  months. 
Look  now  at  the  evergreens,  the  spruce,  and  fir, 
and  pine,  with  needle-leaves,  and  with  trunks  that 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  137 


are  single  shafts  that  never  divide.  Every  limb  is 
small,  and  driven,  like  a  pin,  toward  the  center  of 
the  tree,  so  that  should  it  break  no  harm  is  done  to 
the  general  structure.  These  keep  their  leaves,  and 
enliven  our  winter  forests  by  their  green.  The  de- 
ciduous trees,  like  mariners  fearful  of  their  strength, 
furl  their  sails  at  the  first  rising  of  the  tempest, 
while  the  spruce  and  the  fir,  as  though  conscious  of 
their  strength,  spread  every  stitch  of  canvas  and 
bid  defiance  to  the  storm. 

Every  tree,  we  believe,  in  its  special  adaptation, 
shows  a  personal  God.  A  single  seed  of  the  dan- 
delion, floating  on  its  delicate  balloon,  would  seem 
to  be  enough  to  cut  up  all  atheism  by  the  roots. 
To  some,  these  proofs  may  not  be  satisfactory  ;  but 
are  those  who  can  not  see  the  proof,  sure  that  they 
have  seen  all  the  beauties  and  adaptations  that 
every  day  open  to  the  active  naturalist  ?  Is  it  not 
possible  that  there  should  exist  in  Nature  some 
proof  of  a  creative  mind,  besides  the  mind  of  man  ? 
~No  common,  casual  view  of  JSTature  can  justify  a 
negative  answer.  Things  never  seen  can  not  con- 
vince. It  is  easy  for  one  who  has  never  seen  a  fos- 

12* 


138  NATURAL    HISTORY 


sil,  to  believe  men  mistaken  when  they  talk  of 
splitting  fishes  from  solid  rock — or  to  doubt  that 
coal  is  of  vegetable  origin,  if  he  has  never  visited  a 
coal  mine.  But  when  he  walks  among  the  rocks 
his  skepticism  vanishes.  And,  on  the  other  hand, 
things  always  seen  cease  to  have  their  proper  effect. 
If  we  admire  the  striking  objects  of  a  foreign  land, 
we  shall  find  those  who  dwell  among  them  as  un- 
moved as  we  are  by  the  common  objects  of  our 
daily  life. 

The  effect  that  common  things  might  have,  if 
presented  for  the  first  time,  is  beautifully  illustrated 
in  the  fragment  of  Aristotle  preserved  by  Cicero 
in  his  JDe  Natura  Deorum.  "If,"  said  he,  "there 
were  beings  who  lived  in  the  depths  of  the  earth, 
in  dwellings  adorned  with  statues,  and  paintings, 
and  every  thing  which  is  possessed  in  rich  abun- 
dance by  those  whom  we  esteem  fortunate ;  and  if 
these  beings  could  receive  tidings  of  the  power  and 
might  of  the  gods,  and  could  then  emerge  from  their 
hidden  dwellings  through  the  open  fissures  of  the 
earth  to  the  places  which  we  inhabit — if  they  could 
suddenly  behold  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  139 


vault  of  heaven,  could  recognize  the  expanse  of  the 
cloudy  firmanent  and  the  might  of  the  winds  of 
heaven,  and  admire  the  sun  in  its  majesty,  beauty, 
and  radiant  effulgence ;  and,  lastly,  when  night 
vailed  the  earth  in  darkness  they  could  behold  the 
starry  heavens,  the  changing  moon,  and  the  stars 
rising  and  setting  in  the  unvarying  course  ordained 
from  eternity — they  would  surely  exclaim,  there  are 
gods,  and  such  great  things  must  be  the  work  of 
their  hands." 

These  wonderful  works  have  been  ever  before  us, 
so  that  it  is  hard  to  realize  that  there  was  a  time 
when  they  were  not — and  harder  still  to  feel  the 
full  force  of  the  proof  which  their  mechanism  ought 
to  be  to  us.  And  the  humbler  objects  of  Natural 
History,  not  calculated  to  excite  emotions  of  grand- 
eur and  sublimity,  which  we  daily  tread  beneath 
our  feet,  would,  according  to  the  common  laws  of 
mind,  pass  unnoticed,  or  when  noticed  fail  to  con- 
vince us  as  they  ought.  There  may  be  a  wonder- 
ful arrangement  of  parts,  all  fitted  to  produce  a 
certain  result  j  but  then  we  can  not  see  the  hand  of 
God  tinting  the  flower,  and  arranging  each  part  for 


140  NATURAL    HISTORY 


its  appropriate  work.  The  plant  springs  from  the 
ground,  and  its  kind  has  done  so  for  thousands  of 
generations.  If  we  could  but  for  a  moment  see  the 
Divine  hand  apply  the  rule,  weigh  the  elements,  and 
join  the  varied  cells,  how  changed  the  argument 
would  be !  But  from  the  work  the  builder  must 
be  known.  As  we  walk  among  old  ruins,  it  is  hard 
to  realize  that  the  stones  were  hewn  and  raised  and 
joined  by  men.  When  the  American  first  visits 
Mount  Yernon,  how  difficult  to  realize  that  here 
really  is  the  home  of  the  great  hero  whose  name  he 
has  ever  revered. 

It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  this  difficulty  of  real- 
izing should,  in  the  case  of  natural  objects,  some- 
times end  in  doubt  of  a  personal  God.  It  is  not 
strange,  at  least,  that  it  should  be  so  to  those  who 
see  no  more  than  they  saw  when  children — the 
merest  fragments  of  the  common  forms  that  sur- 
round them.  And  though  the  wondrous  works  of 
design  should  be  described,  it  is  not  he  who  studies 
them  in  books,  but  he  whose  eye  has  seen  the  living 
loop  and  hinge  that  can  understand  their  power  to 
convince.  What  knows  the  man  who  has  merely 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION. 


read  of  Mt.  Washington,  of  the  sense  of  power  he 
feels  who  climbs  the  titan  blocks  which  form  that 
grand  monument  of  Nature's  forces  ?  What  knows 
the  man  who  has  simply  read  of  Niagara,  of  the 
emotions  of  him  who  looks  up  to  the  bending  flood, 
and  is  deafened  by  its  thunder?  It  is  the  real  thing, 
and  not  its  description,  that  must  be  relied  on  to 
convince.  And  if  we  wish  to  prove  the  strength  of 
the  argument  from  design,  must  we  look  to  those 
wlio  have  only  read  and  looked  upon  the  same 
unvarying  surface  all  their  lives,  or  to  the  naturalist, 
who  has  been  walking  within  the  temple  of  Nature 
all  his  life,  each  day  opening  some  alcove  filled 
with  new  beauties  and  adaptations?  Shall  we 
inquire  respecting  the  landscape  in  the  distance,  of 
him  who  has  always  walked  upon  the  plain  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain,  or  of  him  who  daily  ascends 
that  mountain,  and  views  that  landscape  from  every 
possible  point?  The  common  observer  is  like 
Aristotle's  fancied  beings  in  tlie  center  of  the  earth 
— remaining  there  forever,  hearing  of  the  gods  and 
their  wrorks,-  but  seeing  the  whole  array  of  Nature 
only  as  delineated  in  pictures  of  landscapes,  and  the 


142  NATURAL    HISTORY 


orreries  invented  by  men  to  represent  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavenly  bodies. 

But  the  naturalist,  with  his  trained  senses  for  ob- 
serving, is,  as  it  were,  raised  from  the  center  to  the 
surface,  to  look  off  upon  a  new  world.  And  with 
his  microscope  a  new  world  bursts  upon  his  view 
every  hour,  not  as  a  far-off  star,  threading  its  way 
like  a  point  of  light  through  the  heavens,  so  that  its 
motions  alone  can  be  determined — but  in  the  drop 
of  water,  in  the  grain  of  slate,  in  the  scale  of  fish, 
and  every  fragment  of  bone.  Think  you  that 
argument  from  design  had  no  force  with  Cuvier, 
whose  firm  belief  in  final  causes  led  him  to  such 
splendid  results?  His  genius  called  back  the  per- 
fect forms  from  the  bony  fragments  in  the  Paris 
basin ;  but  the  firm  belief  in  special  adaptation 
was  the  guiding  light  that  led  him  on,  and  he 
never  once  doubted  that  the  plan  and  form  of  each 
organic  being  were  fixed  by  an  intelligent,  divine 
Lawgiver. 

Think  you  the  force  of  that  argument  is  n6t  felt 
by  Agassiz,  as  a  single  scale  reveals  to  him  the 
character  of  the  fish?  We  need  not  debate  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  143 


question,  but  appeal  to  him,  and  his  answer  is 
given  out  in  his  last  great  work,  the  ablest  volume 
ever  written  in  proof  of  the  being  of  a  personal 
God  from  Nature — the  arguments  all  drawn  from 
the  animal  kingdom.  Here,  then,  is  the  man 
whose  eye  has  seen  more  forms  in  Natural  History 
than  any  other  that  ever  lived — one  of  the  greatest 
naturalists  in  any  age,  the  stamp  of  whose  foot  can 
almost  call  up  the  forms  from  their  sleep  of  ages  in 
their  rocky  beds,  seeing  in  all  the  adaptations 
overwhelming  proof  of  mind.  Here,  then,  we  may 
rest  the  argument  for  design,  disregarding  the  at- 
tacks which  dreaming  development  theorists  may 
make.  This  argument  will  need  no  farther  defence 
till  it  is  attacked  by  some  naturalist  of  such  vast 
acquirements  as  to  make  him  a  foeman  worthy  of 
Agassiz's  steel. 

We  are  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  argument 
from  the  mental  constitution  of  man.  But  if  the 
inside  of  a  watch  prove  design,  does  not  the  case, 
and  all  the  outer  works,  fitted  to  protect  the  inner 
mechanism,  and  reveal  its  movements  ?  And  if  the 
mind  of  man  show  design,  does  not  the  body,  the 


NATURAL    HISTORY 


home  of  that  mind,  and  the  thousand  contrivances 
in  nature  for  keeping  that  body  with  all  its 
complicated  machinery  in  tune?  If,  then,  we  grant 
personality  to  the  mind  of  man,  we  may,  so  far  as 
the  argument  is  concerned,  believe  with  some  of  the 
old  philosophers,  that  mind  to  be  eternal,  uncreated  ; 
but  the  fitting  of  a  body  to  the  wants  of  that  mind, 
would  prove  personality  on  the  part  of  the  creator 
of  the  body.  There  are  those  who  believe  that  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  was  not  man  in  any  true  sense, 
that  the  divine,  eternal,  uncreated  Mind  was  united 
to  a  human  body.  There  is  no  absurdity  in  this 
view.  And  if  every  man  were  considered  the  same, 
the  body,  in  its  adaptations  to  the  mind,  would 
still  require  a  creator  equal  in  kind  to  the  mental 
part  provided  for. 

But  among  the  rocks  of  the  earth  has  Natural 
History  laid  a  foundation  for  Natural  Religion,  one 
that  can  never  be  weakened,  but  is  becoming  more 
firm  by  each  new  discovery.  This  it  does  by  carry- 
ing us  back  to  the  beginning  of  all  organic  life,  and 
by  pointing  out,  on  the  rocky  chart,  where  each 
new  form  commenced  its  course.  The  infidel  argu- 


AS    RELATED    TO     RELIGION.  145 


ment  of  an  infinite  series,  might  be  combated  by 
metaphysical  argument,  but  the  reply  was  only  an 
argument  of  words,  and  to  many  minds  far  from 
being  conclusive.  It  was  a  rampart,  behind  which 
thousands  would  vaunt  themselves  to  be  safe,  and, 
like  all  metaphysical  ramparts,  so  long  as  it  was 
firmly  believed  in,  it  was  safe. 

But  geology  has  a  shorter  and  more  conclusive 
answer.  One  blow  of  her  hammer  and  the  rampart 
of  infinite  series  dissolves  as  by  enchantment.  She 
points  her  finger  back  to  the  granite  frame-work  of 
the  globe,  and  reads  a  chapter  in  its  history,  when 
organic  forms  were  impossible  on  the  molten,  glow- 
ing mass.  Then  through  each  of  the  stony  layers, 
she  marks  the  introduction  of  each  new  species — 
the  thousand  wonderful  forms,  each  a  miracle  of 
creation.  First  she  unfolds  the  varied  forms  of  the 
Silurian  seas,  the  earliest  types  of  organic  existence, 
the  chambered  shells,  the  mountain  masses  of  curi- 
ous patterns,  whose  nice  finish  to  the  microscopic 
facet  of  the  trilobite's  eye,  has  for  countless  ages 
been  preserved  for  us  in  this  grand  cabinet,  un- 
harmed by  corroding  elements,  undisturbed  by  the 


OF  1KB 

OTIVBRSITtf 


146  NATURAL     HISTORY 


seas  that  have  swept  above  them,  and  the  forces  that 
have  broken  and  lifted  the  earth  beneath  them. 

Then  she  traces  the  "footprints  of  the  Creator" 
in  the  quarries  of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  and 
again  wanders  through  the  luxuriant  forests  of  the 
carboniferous  flora.  Mounting  one  step  higher,  she 
splits  from  the  Connecticut  Valley  the  paths  of 
gigantic  birds,  and  forms  unknown  among  living 
fauna.  From  the  shores  and  waters  of  the  Oolitic 
ocean  she  brings  up  reptilian  life,  in  form  more 
wonderful,  and  in  armor  and  strength  more  ter- 
rific, than  painter  or  poet  ever  dreamed  of.  And 
once  more  the  earth  almost  seems  to  tremble  be- 
neath the  tread  of  Mastodons,  whose  bones  she 
brings  up  and  places  joint  to  joint  in  all  their  vast 
proportions.  And  last,  above  the  tribes  entombed  in 
rock,  she  points  to  man,  the  crown  of  all — not  only 
the  last,  but  the  most  perfect  being  ever  formed 
upon  the  earth — with  all  the  faculties  needed  by  a 
rational  soul,  showing,  in  his  physical  organization, 
that  he  is  the  last  of  the  long  series,  and  beyond  him 
no  progress  is  possible,  according  to  the  plan  dimly 
sketched  in  the  first  vertebrate  of  the  Silurian  wa- 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  147 


ters,  and  unfolded  through  all  succeeding  geologic 
ages. 

As  beneath  the  corner-stone  of  human  structures 
are  placed  mementoes  for  coming  generations,  that 
they  may  know  more  perfectly  the  works  of  their 
fathers  who  reared  the  walls,  so  beneath  the  founda- 
tion stones  of  this  earth  have  been  deposited,  by  the 
Great  Architect,  the  records  of  His  works,  for  the 
study  of  him  who  was  to  be  brought  last  upon  the 
scene,  the  most  perfect  work  of  His  hand. 

In  treating  of  the  relations  of  Natural  History  to 
Religion,  we  are  not  disposed  to  ignore  the  fact 
that,  from  the  progression  of  the  plan  of  creation, 
from  the  simplest  organic  forms  in  the  lowest  rocks 
to  the  highest  plants  and  animals  of  the  present  era, 
an  argument  has  been  drawn  by  some  against  the 
necessity  of  a  personal  God.  Misinterpreting  the 
evidence  of  progression  of  the  plan  as  new  species 
were  introduced,  they  have  applied  the  law  of  pro- 
gression to  single  species,  and  thus  are  led  to  believe 
that  the  forms  in  the  lower  rocks  have  gradually 
changed,  and  in  consequence  of  these  changes  that 
they  present  in  their  upward  development  all  the 


148  NATURAL    HISTORY 


phases  of  life  which  Geology  has  revealed.  Such  a 
strange  reading  of  geologic  text  would  yet  require  a 
divine  power  to  introduce  the  first  germ  of  life. 
But  error  seldom  stops  till  it  has  reached  the  edge 
of  the  precipice,  and  stepped  over  for  its  fatal  fall. 
There  was  a  time,  however,  when  Natural  History 
seemed  ready  to  furnish  the  Atheist  and  Pantheist 
with  a  magazine  of  missiles,  against  which  the 
strongest  walls  Religion  has  raised  were  doomed  to 
crumble.  But  they  have  been  hurled  back  with  a 
force  that  has  silenced  the  attacking  batteries.  The 
most  enticing,  the  most  plausible,  and  the  most  dan- 
gerous was  the  theory  of  development,  or  transmu- 
tation of  species,  making  the  sea,  that  fruitful  field 
of  life,  the  birthplace  of  every  organic  being — not  in 
perfect  form,  but  as  a  mere  vital  point  where  water 
touched  the  land ;  invoking  for  the  original  creation 
no  higher  power  than  the  electric  current. 

This  theory  of  transformation  was  amusing,  rather 
than  mischievous,  as  dreamed  out  by  Maillet  a  hun- 
dred years  ago.  No  serious  harm  could  come  from 
fancying  a  shoal  of  frightened  fishes  floundering 
among  reeds  till  their  fins  were  split  into  feathers, 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  149 


and  their  noses  lengthened  and  hardened  into  beaks, 
so  that  it  should  be  more  convenient  for  them  to  fly 
away  and  light  on  trees  than  to  return  to  their  na- 
tive element.  But  in  the  hands  of  the  able  natu- 
ralists Oken  and  Lamark,  it  assumed  a  more  scien- 
tific and  more  dangerous  form.  But  their  argu- 
ments, like  boomerangs  thrown  by  unskillful  hands, 
have  returned  against  themselves.  The  last  blow 
was  given  by  the  stone-mason  of  Scotland.  He 
thus  describes  the  discovery  that  was  to  him  the 
grand  weapon  of  defence,  and  of  carrying  the  war 
into  the  enemy's  camp. 

"  The  day  was  far  spent  when  I  reached  Strom- 
ness  ;  but  as  I  had  a  fine,  bright  evening  before  me, 
longer,  by  some  three  or  four  degrees  of  north  lati- 
tude, than  the  midsummer  evenings  of  the  south  of 
Scotland,  I  set  out,  hammer  in  hand,  to  examine  the 
junction  of  the  granite  and  the  Great  Conglomerate, 
where  it  has  been  laid  bare  by  the  sea  along  the 
low  promontory  which  forms  the  western  boundary 
of  the  harbor I  traced  the  formation  up- 
ward, this  evening,  along  the  edges  of  the  upturned 

strata,  from  where  the  Great  Conglomerate  leans 

13* 


150  NATURAL    HISTORY 


against  the  granite,  till  where  it  merges  into  the 
iehthyolitic  flagstones,  and  then  pursued  these  from 
older  and  lower  to  newer  and  higher  layers,  desi- 
rous of  ascertaining  at  what  distance  over  the  base 
of  the  system  its  most  ancient  organisms  first  ap- 
pear, and  what  their  character  and  kind.  And, 
imbedded  in  a  grayish-colored  layer  of  hard  flag, 
somewhat  less  than  a  hundred  yards  over  the  granite 
and  about  a  hundred  and  sixty  feet  over  the  upper 
stratum  of  conglomerate,  I  found  what  I  sought — 
a  well-marked  bone,  in  all  probability  the  oldest 

vertebrate  remains  yet  discovered  in  Orkney 

The  amateur  geologists  of  Caithness  and  Orkney 
have  learned  to  recognize  it  as  the  '  petrified  nail.'  " 

To  a  looker-on,  it  would  have  seemed  a  thing  of 
little  importance,  that  evening-stroll  of  the  lone 
geologist.  But  it  was  a  memorable  evening  for 
science  and  religion.  The  blows  of  that  little 
hammer  are  still  sounding,  and  that  "petrified  nail" 
was  more  fatal  to  the  development  hypothesis  than 
the  tent-nail  to  the  temple  of  Sisera. 

It  proved  that  the  earliest  fishes  were  among  the 
highest  organized;  the  order  was  reversed,  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  151 


argument  from  development  was  broken.  And  his 
final  language  is  fully  vindicated :  "  They  began  to 
be,  through  the  miracle  of  creation."  Thus,  then, 
from  this  apparent  danger,  has  the  human  mind 
been  quickened;  and  nature,  summoned  to  testify 
against  the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  has  from 
the  deep  strata  given  such  a  response  as  proves  His 
being  to  all  the  ablest  geologists  of  the  world. 

In  all  I  have  thus  far  said  of  the  bearing  of 
Natural  History  upon  Religion,  I  have  not  once 
referred  to  a  written  Revelation.  But  the  time  is 
past  when  it  is  considered  out  of  place  to  refer  with 
respect  to  the  Bible,  even  in  a  temple  of  science. 
But  how  long  would  it  maintain  its  power  in  this 
age,  if  it  could  be  shown  to  contradict  the  teachings 
of  science?  It  might  exert  a  power  in  dark  ages 
and  among  ignorant  men,  as  the  sacred  books  of 
other  religions,  the  Koran  and  Vedas,  have  so  long 
done.  But  the  human  mind  must  change  before  a 
book  shall  hold  its  sway  against  the  teachings  of 
Nature,  as  science  now  unfolds  them.  There  are  in 
science  some  things  at  least  sure,  and  they  must, 
and  will  have  their  weight.  A  book  is  written  by 


152  NATURAL    HISTORY 


men,  it  may  therefore  be  simply  a  human  produc- 
tion— it  may  be  changed,  portions  lost,  and  portions 
added.  But  no  human  hand  has  lifted  the  hills, 
no  scheming  founder  of  religions  has  rolled  back  the 
strata  of  the  earth,  and  placed  there  the  fossils  to 
mark  the  supernatural  introduction  of  life.  ]STo 
company  of  his  followers  have  set  the  forests,  and 
filled  the  waters  with  their  teeming  tribes.  He  that 
believes  in  a  God,  believes  in  Him  first  as  the 
creator,  and  will  believe  in  no  book  as  coming  from 
Him,  through  the  instrumentality  of  men,  that 
contradicts  this  revelation  of  nature,  which  came 
direct  from  the  hand  of  God,  before  the  creation  of 
man,  and  beyond  the  power  of  man  to  change  in  a 
single  letter.  If  the  Bible  is  the  message  of  God, 
delivered  by  His  embassadors,  who  were  clothed 
with  plenary  power  to  do  it,  Nature  is  the  auto- 
graph letter  of  the  great  Sovereign ;  and  now,  that 
men  have  learned  to  read  it,  they  demand  as  condi- 
tion of  belief  in  the  message  written  by  men  that  it 
shall  not  contradict  the  letter,  which  they  know  to 
be  genuine,  stamped  as  it  is  with  the  great  seal  of 
almighty  power  which  He  has  committed  to  the 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  153 


keeping  of  no  created  being.  The  relations  of  that 
portion  of  science  called  Natural  History  to  the 
Bible,  may  appear  to  some  not  of  a  marked  and 
direct  character,  but  only  incidental.  But  even 
these  incidental  relations  are  of  the  highest  value, 
by  throwing  light  upon  obscure  portions  of  the 
inspired  record,  leading  to  more  profound  study  and 
more  liberal  views  in  its  interpretation.  That 
religion  which  is  worthy  the  name,  is  not  secured  by 
simply  proving  the  existence  of  a  God,  who  might 
have  originated  the  universe,  set  it  in  motion  once 
for  all,  like  a  vast  machine,  and  then  withdrawn 
himself  forever  from  its  government  and  special 
care.  It  is  in  the  revelation  of  character  as  con- 
tinually guiding  and  caring  for  His  creatures,  that 
the  foundation  is  laid  for  rational  religion,  that 
shall  manifest  itself  in  trust  and  action.  This 
character  is  certainly  revealed  in  the  creation,  and 
"  may  be  understood  by  the  things  that  are  made." 
And  in  all  these  works,  with,  the  manifestation  of 
intelligence  is  joined  benevolence,  so  that  like  bina- 
ry suns  they  move  on  together.  The  special  care 
manifested  through  all  the  geologic  ages  in  fitting 


154  NATURAL     HISTORY 


each  new  species  for  the  conditions  of  the  globe 
when  it  lived,  makes  it  hard  for  us  to  believe  that 
this  care  has  now  ceased.  We  have  at  least  the 
proof  that  care  has  been  exercised,  not  once  merely, 
but  unnumbered  times  through  the  long  lapse  of 
ages.  If  He  cared  for  the  fishes  of  the  Silurian  seas, 
will  He  not  care  for  us  ?  The  thousand  miraculous 
interpositions  proved  by  the  introduction  of  species, 
and  man  himself,  show  that  God  introduces  the 
supernatural  whenever  the  good  of  the  universe 
requires  it.  And  now,  when  we  see  the  careful 
provision  he  has  made  for  the  wants  of  every  crea- 
ted thing,  it  renders  us  more  ready  to  see  in  the 
adaptations  of  the  Bible  to  the  wants  of  man's 
higher  nature  the  mark  of  His  hand. 

We  thus,  from  the  study  of  Nature,  remove  all 
antecedent  probability  against  the  Bible  as  a  revela- 
tion, and  against  the  miracles  by  which  its  divine 
authority  is  supported.  The  supposed  disagreement 
of  the  two  books  has  led  to  more  careful  study,  not 
only  of  the  rocks,  but  of  the  Hebrew  text,  and  its 
influence  on  Biblical  criticism  is  of  the  most  marked 
and  happy  kind.  They  may  never  be  perfectly 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  155 


reconciled ;  nor  do  we  care  for  that.  They  move 
on  in  the  same  direction — both  declaring  a  personal 
God,  both  declaring  his  miraculous  interposition, 
both  declaring  his  continued  care.  The  intelligent 
theologian  would  be  hard  to  find  who  does  not 
understand  that  the  Bible  would  lose  its  force  if 
shown  to  conflict  with  science,  and  who  does  not 
know  that  the  Natural  History  of  the  earth  has 
destroyed  infidel  arguments  which  metaphysics 
could  meet  only  by  words. 

Special  adaptations  and  evidences  of  a  divine 
interposition  in  distinct  acts  of  creation,  are  suffi- 
cient perhaps  for  the  intellect,  but  they  are  hardly 
of  more  importance  than  the  adaptation  of  Nature 
to  the  emotions.  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for 
they  shall  see  God."  In  a  lower  sense  this  has  its 
application,  for  the  pure  in  heart  are  most  ready  to 
see  the  proof  for  the  existence  and  attributes  of 
God.  If,  then,  nature  is  fitted  to  develop  in  man  a 
true  taste,  giving  him  the  types  of  the  beautiful,  it 
must  purify  and  elevate  the  feelings,  and  prepare 
him  for  communion  with  the  Author  of  Nature. 
Such  can  not  fail  to  be  its  tendency. 


156  NATURAL     HISTORY 


We  necessarily  take  man  as  our  type  of  person- 
ality. Is  it  possible,  then,  we  ask,  to  prove  that 
personality  from  any  of  his  works?  If  this  is 
denied,  then  our  argument  from  contrivance  is 
certainly  in  danger,  because  we  have  no  acknowl- 
edged standard.  But  if  it  be  granted  that  any  work 
of  man,  any  of  the  grand  material  results  brought 
out  by  the  combined  wTisdom  and  skill  of  the  race, 
proves  personality,  then  we  have  a  recognized 
standard.  Let  that  be  taken,  and  I  care  not  what 
it  may  be,  and  it  can  not  only  be  matched  in  .every 
particular  in  the  works  of  Nature,  but  as  far  exceed- 
ed in  completeness  as  in  grandeur  and  beauty.  We 
see  one  plan  or  set  of  plans  commenced  in  the  first 
creation  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  the  grand 
ideas  in  those  plans  preserved  till  the  present 
moment,  for  untold  ages,  not  only  through  thou- 
sands of  generations,  but  through  thousands  of  new 
creations.  And  yet  that  plan  has  been  modified  in 
its  details,  to  carry  out  a  particular  design  in  each 
new  species.  This  wisdom  and  skill  are  thus  seen, 
not  only  providing  for  the  exigencies  of  the  day, 
not  only  for  the  things  already  created,  but  looking 


AS    RELATED    TO    RELIGION.  157 


forward  through  geologic  ages  of  physical  change, 
and  providing  for  the  wants  of  man,  in  his  needs 
and  desires,  entirely  unlike  any  thing  before  crea- 
ted. It  was  for  man  alone  that  metals  were  poured 
into  the  primary  rocks,  even  before  life  was  intro- 
duced upon  the  globe ;  it  was  for  his  need  the  coal 
was  garnered  up,  ages  and  ages  before  the  earth  was 
fitted  for  him.  "We  can  hardly  see  a  fold  in  the 
strata,  or  study  a  new  form  of  matter,  that  does  not 
seem  to  have  reference  to  man  as  a  physical  or 
intellectual  being.  But  without  going  thus  far,  we 
can  assert  that  he  has  been  perfectly  provided  for ; 
and  what  short  of  the  wisdom  and  skill  of  a  per- 
sonal being  could  provide  for  the  wants  of  man,  from 
whom  alone  we  have  our  idea  of  personality? 
"While,  then,  we  know  the  argument  from  mind  must 
be  satisfactory  to  the  philosopher,  we  must  also 
believe  that  the  fitting  up  of  a  body  for  that  mind, 
and  a  world  for  that  body,  are  equally  proofs  of 
personality.  For  none  but  a  person  can  under- 
stand, so  as  to  provide  for  the  wants  of  personality. 
The  chain  then  seems  to  be  unbroken.  If  the 

creation  of  the  mind  would  prove  personality,  then 

14 


158  NATURAL    HISTORY 


the  body  fitted  to  that  mind — and  if  the  body,  then 
every  special  adaptation  by  which  that  body  is 
adjusted  to  the  forces  of  the  natural  world. 

We  believe  this  view  is  sustained  by  the  Apostle. 
"  For  the  invisible  things  of  him  from  the  creation 
of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  ~by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  his  eternal  power  and 
Godhead,  so  that  they  are  without  excuse"  Surely 
it  can  not  be  contended  that  the  Apostle  supposed 
any  thing  less  than  a  personal  God  was  manifested 
by  creation,  when  he  declared  that  they  were  with- 
out excuse  for  not  worshiping  him  as  God.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  he  denounces  them  for  likening 
God  to  corruptible  man,  and  to  birds  and  four- 
footed  leasts  and  creeping  things,  as  though  they 
could  discern  in  creation  no  higher  marks  of  wis- 
dom than  instinct,  or  the  imperfect  works  of  sinful 
man. 

But  let  it  not  for  a  moment  be  thought  that  I 
offer  Nature  as  a  substitute  for  the  Bible,  or  the 
love  of  God  as  the  author  of  the  beautiful  as  the 
Bum  of  that  love  demanded  by  Him  as  a  righteous 
moral  Governor.  Nature  is  a  revelation,  and  if 


AS    RELATED    TO   RELIGION.  159 


rightly  studied,  so  far  from  satisfying  us,  will  teach 
us  the  need  of  another,  higher  and  plainer.  It  be- 
gets the  childlike  spirit,  teachable  and  pure — fitted 
to  receive  a  full  revelation,  as  the  Bible  claims  to  be, 
and  to  enter  upon  that  life  of  faith  which  the  Bible 
demands  and  the  soul  of  man  craves. 

Nature  and  the  Bible  can  each  be  studied  alone ; 
but  as  God  is  the  author  of  both,  we  can  never  be- 
lieve that  the  lowest  can  be  neglected  without  loss, 
as  we  know  the  highest  can  not  be  without  ship- 
wreck of  all  the  nobler  objects  for  which  man  was 
created. 

Their  relation  can  not  be  better  expressed  than  in 
the  language  of  M'Cosh.  "  Science,"  says  this  able 
author,  "  has  its  foundations,  and  so  has  religion ; 
let  them  unite  their  foundations,  and  the  basis  will 
be  broader,  and  they  will  be  two  compartments  of 
one  great  fabric  reared  to  the  glory  of  God.  Let 
one  be  the  outer  and  the  other  the  inner  court.  In 
the  one,  let  all  look,  and  admire,  and  adore  ;  and  in 
the  other,  let  those  who  have  faith,  kneel,  and  pray, 
and  praise.  Let  the  one  be  the  sanctuary  where 
human  learning  may  present  its  richest  incense  as 


160 


NATURAL     HISTORY. 


an  offering  to  God  ;  and  the  other  the  holiest  of  all, 
separated  from  it  by  a  vail  now  rent  in  twain,  and  in 
which,  on  a  blood-sprinkled  mercy-seat,  we  pour  out 
the  love  of  a  reconciled  heart,  and  hear  the  oracles  of 
the  living  God." 


14  DAY  USE 

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Chadbourne 
Lectures 

57457 
,   P.  A. 
on  natural 

QH81 
C43 

history. 

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